Our current fundraising campaign, Ever Onward, is off to a brilliant start. More than 76,000 Jayhawks and friends of the university have invested a remarkable $1.9 billion already, on our way to $2.5 billion.

Those numbers are hard to get your mind around. But the impact they achieve is crystal clear. Thanks to you, KU will have:

• An entrepreneurship hub on the Hill, where students from every school will be energized — and receive practical tools — to make their difference.
• A magnetic new Gateway District to campus, featuring a spectacular stadium and conference center that will draw crowds to campus and Lawrence throughout the year.
• A nationally renowned KU Cancer Center, where science enriches treatment and treatment informs science. Someone you love will live because of the research and care conducted at KU Cancer Center.
• The Wonderful Institute for Sustainable Engineering, where students and faculty work together every day to invent new ways to keep our planet and people healthy.
• Hundreds of new scholarships that will unlock opportunities for thousands of students to reach for their full potential.

These are just a few of the ways these investments will pay dividends, not just for our students but for all of us, the result of our collective impact to our communities, our nation and our world.

But why do a campaign? Can’t we raise support for these causes (and many more) without the fuss and expense? The short answer is “yes,” but campaigns have a way of accelerating giving like nothing else.