University of Iowa officials announced its campaign Tuesday to raise $3 billion in support for the university at all levels. The university already raised half of the funds.  

UI President Barbara Wilson announced the campaign during a public launch on the Pentacrest Tuesday afternoon. 

Wilson said the campaign will provide important aspects of financial and mental health needs and academic success. She added that the campaign will grow programs, such as peer mentoring, career coaching, or extra academic support for first-generation students.

The campaign hopes to achieve similar philanthropic goals, such as the addition of: 

• A new UI Hospitals and Clinics tower. A donor gifted $70 million to partially fund this project. It is the largest gift in the university’s 175-year history. 
• An Iowa wrestling facility, which will cost $31 million. 
• The incoming women’s gymnastics and spirit squad training center, which will cost $20 million
• A new academic building on the west side.

Together Hawkeyes, the name of the campaign from UI’s Center for Advancement, is the medium through which the campaign will be achieved. Wilson announced the campaign’s three goals: 

• Connect with 300,000 alumni, fans, and friends. 
• Create 3 million interactions with alumni and community members across social media, sporting events, cultural events, and more. 
• Raise $3 billion to support the UI. 

“We have some pretty incredible formulas and pretty incredible secret sauces, and we love for everybody to be part of those three C’s,” Wilson said.

The press release also states that the UI is among the first Big Ten schools to announce and track the engagement of a comprehensive campaign.

Wilson attested to the Hawkeye spirit both at the event and on campus every day, pointing to Sunday’s Crossover at Kinnick Iowa women’s basketball exhibition game as an example of this. 

During an interview with The Daily Iowan on Tuesday, Wilson said the campaign has been a group effort among different UI officials.

“All the deans have been involved, our shared governance groups have been talking to us about things that matter to them,” Wilson said. “It’s really a collective and it’s over the course of the last couple of years as we’ve been planning this quietly.” 

In the interview, Wilson clarified that the $3 billion raised by the campaign will not be to replace money from appropriations or tuition. 

The state Board of Regents is waiting for approval on a $619 million appropriations request from the Iowa Legislature. The regents added $1 million more to the request this year dedicated to expanding mental health resources. The regents asked for $14.8 million more this year compared to a $32 million bump last year.

 “Every university that I know of is raising money, so you know, private [or] public’s, we’re in the business of fundraising, we have been for decades,” Wilson said. “So we’re not doing anything out of the ordinary right now.”

Lynette Marshall, UI Center for Advancement present and chief executive officer, said the campaign will be different from previous UI campaigns and campaigns from other institutions because it invites alumni and friends to support the UI through engagement.

“We want them to participate in whatever way is right for them,” Marshall said. “Achieving our goals will make this the largest and most comprehensive campaign in the history of our state.”

The campaign began counting on July 1, 2019, and is almost halfway to its goal. In those four years, the UI has amassed more than 251,000 alumni and friends and received $1.59 billion in donor support thus far. 

Alejandro Rojas contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article said that the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics tower will cost $70 million to build. However, the total value for this project is not yet public information. A donor gifted $70 million to the UI to partially fund the project.