Philanthropic impact: Campaign update

On October 25, 2013, HSPH publicly launched the Campaign for Harvard School of Public Health, and Campaign co-chair Jonathan Lavine announced the School’s intention to raise $450 million by 2018. We went on to enjoy a record-breaking fundraising year thanks to our many very generous donors, raising $103.3 million in fiscal year 2014. This, combined with the funds raised during the two-year “quiet phase” prior to launch, brought total Campaign fundraising to $258.8 million as of June 30, 2014—57.5 percent of our goal.

These funds are already working to support Campaign priorities such as student financial aid, professorships, and innovative education and research programs, as well as research funds to support efforts to combat four major global health threats: harmful physical and social environments; old and new pandemics; poverty and humanitarian crises; and failing health systems.

Campaign chart update
Progress toward the Campaign for Harvard School of Public Health’s $450 million goal, July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2014.

Giving in fiscal 2014 included five seven-figure gifts from generous philanthropists, two eight-figure commitments from international donors, and annual fund contributions from well over 3,000 alumni and friends of the School. The 2014 figure also reflects the remarkable generosity of our faculty and staff, who gave a total of $613,000 in new gifts and pledges—an increase of 19 percent over the previous year.

With the dramatic increase in giving, the School has also witnessed a sizable decrease in the cost of funds raised, from $0.19/dollar in fiscal 2011 to just $0.08 in fiscal 2014.

The Campaign for Harvard School of Public Health is part of the $6.5 billion Harvard Campaign.

By almost every measure, we have just completed the most successful year in the history of the HSPH Office for External Relations. I am very proud of our office’s accomplishments, especially our efforts—along with many others in the HSPH community—to organize a memorable celebration of the School’s first century of impact, and successfully launch a Campaign that will ensure strength and innovation at HSPH far into the future.

Campaign themes and priorities chart

It is with profoundly mixed emotions that I have decided to leave HSPH, effective August 15, 2014, to pursue my own long-time dream of starting a new social enterprise in Boston. Drawing on what I have learned over five wonderful years at HSPH and 20 years in the not-for-profit world, this new enterprise will sell local, healthy, gourmet foods, while helping to feed low-income families and providing employment for at-risk youth and people who traditionally have a hard time finding work. At the heart of the enterprise is the simple idea that that everybody deserves a good job and a great meal.

To everyone who has contributed to the Campaign, to everyone who has supported and worked alongside me over the past five years, and to the remarkable faculty, alumni, students, and friends of HSPH whose commitment to public health has been a daily source of inspiration for me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Ellie Starr,
Vice Dean for External Relations

A boost for patient safety
Flexible resources maximize public health impact
In memoriam: Marc Roberts

Photo: Kent Dayton / HSPH

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