Great Valley celebrates success in 'Greater Penn State' campaign

MALVERN, Pa. — Penn State Great Valley has raised $3,596,093 and helped the University to achieve record-breaking success in its recently concluded campaign “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence.” June 30 marked the end of both the most successful campaign and the most successful fundraising year in the institution’s history. The Great Valley total is nearly $800,000 more than the campus’ set goal, marking a transformative investment by 445 alumni, friends, corporate partners and others in its mission to fund scholarships, develop entrepreneurial opportunities and more.

The campus celebrated the campaign’s success and members of the Great Valley Giving Society at the “Great Valley Celebrates” event on Sept. 22, the group’s first in-person celebration since the inaugural celebration in 2019. The full photo album from the event can be viewed here.

“The outpouring of support for Penn State Great Valley during the campaign was inspiring,” said Colin Neil, interim chancellor, dean and chief academic officer. “Cost is often a deterrent for pursuing a graduate degree, so funding scholarships and alleviating financial concerns was one of our top priorities. Thanks to the support of our alumni and friends, more students will be able to further their education and thrive at Penn State Great Valley.”

The campaign, which began in 2016, was focused on the three key imperatives of a 21st-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by serving communities and fueling discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. Within Great Valley, top campaign gifts and priorities included:

• Six new endowed scholarships, totaling $253,025, were established. All were matched with University funds, adding a total of $701,505 to Penn State Great Valley's pool of endowed scholarship support. Additionally, 38 donors donated a total of $70,690 to for general scholarships.
• A total of $430,000 was raised to create and support the Knowledge Commons, a shared learning space that features Wi-Fi enabled workstations, group meeting space, a One Button Studio, 3D printers, technical support, a micro mart, a gaming room, a fitness center and more. One third of the available rooms and areas in the Knowledge Commons were named, leaving donors’ legacies on campus.
• Four program endowments, totaling $142,500, were established for the Great Valley LaunchBoxpowered by Penn State. With the University’s one-to-one LaunchBox Matching Program, now concluded, the total raised for the LaunchBox was $285,000.
• $1,695,200 of Qlik Academic Program software, a gift-in-kind provided to Great Valley engineering students to equip them with cutting-edge technical skills. Seventy-seven students accessed the software package.
• $25,000 to support the activities of the Big Data Lab, which advances the state of research by collaborating with academic and industry partners around the globe and by training the next generation of data scientists and engineers.

“We are so grateful for the support from the Great Valley community which made our success possible,” said campaign chair Joe Henry, who was recently named a 2022 Fundraising Volunteer of the Year. “This campaign received support not only from Penn State alumni, but also from community leaders, employers, businesses and others who recognize the value that Penn State Great Valley provides to our region.”

With the record-breaking success of “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” which raised $2.2 billion from 2016 to 2022, philanthropy is helping to sustain the University’s tradition of education, research and service to communities across the Commonwealth and around the globe. Scholarships enable our institution to open doors and welcome students from every background, support for transformative experiences allows our students and faculty to fulfill their vast potential for leadership, and gifts toward discovery and excellence help us to serve and impact the world we share. To learn more about the impact of giving and the continuing need for support, please visit raise.psu.edu.