Arizona State University’s Downtown Campus is seeing the benefits of ASU’s Campaign 2020 through funds received by its colleges and programs.
The university started Campaign 2020 in January 2017 with the hopes of raising $1.5 billion by 2020 to further the university’s impact on the lives of individuals and the community.
All the colleges on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix Campus received donations. These donations fund university functions ranging from scholarships and faculty endowments to community initiatives in the colleges. The ASU programs at the Westward Ho, the Student Health Outreach for Wellness (SHOW) clinic and the Public Service Academy are all slated to receive Campaign 2020 money.
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“Our donors make all the difference,” said John Misner, Senior Advisor at the ASU Foundation and Professor of Practice at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. “Private support provides the margin of excellence that propels a university from good to great.”
The goal for the ASU 2020 Campaign is to raise $1.5 billion. The current amount of donations raised currently sits at $1.3 billion, according to Misner.
Associate director for the Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix Campus Bobby Gordon is in favor of this campaign. The ASU Community Collaborative at the Westward Ho is a part of the center.
“I think campaign 2020 is a great way for ASU to coordinate and focus its efforts in certain areas,” said Gordon. “I think that any help that can provide to the downtown campus is continuing our social embeddedness within the community and integrated programs is a benefit for everyone.”
Campaign 2020 funds would support programming and supplies in addition to the student-driven services that are provided to Westward Ho residences through the program, Gordon said.
Director of development for the College of Public Service and Community Solutions Matt Ingram said this campaign can only be a positive thing; especially for his school.
According to Ingram, scholarships have already been endowed and people have also engaged with the Public Service Academy.
“It’s people that have a passion for the work that we do in our college,” Ingram said as he talked about the donors. “That’s pretty easy because the work they are doing has a direct impact on the community itself.”
Campaign 2020 allows ASU to be help the community and ensure every student has a fair chance at exceptional education, according to Senior Director of Development at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Elizabeth Bernreuter.
“Campaign ASU 2020 extends ASU’s mission, sustains its momentum and increases the university’s impact,” Misner said.
Contact the reporter at Kayla.Satterfield@asu.edu.
