“Faith & Hope has created opportunities for students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds to come to Fordham, earn a world-class education, and seek employment,” said Susan Conley Salice, FCRH ’82, one of three campaign co-chairs and a first-generation college graduate herself. “These scholarships open doors to students who may not otherwise be able to attend, and give them the opportunity to transform their lives.”

The campaign raised $175,311,288 from April 2014 to June 2019, surpassing its original goal of $175 million. Donations funded existing scholarship funds and 197 new scholarship funds for students—including Fulbright scholars, community leaders, and first-generation college students.

“Scholarships are at the heart of Fordham’s mission, and are central to the Jesuit notion of service to the human family,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Scholarships transform individual lives, of course, but in democratizing education and knowledge, they also help create a more just world and a more equitable society. I am deeply heartened that so many of our generous alumni and friends agree, and I am forever grateful for their openhearted and openhanded support.”

Breaking Records Across the University

The Faith & Hope campaign achieved historic results for Fordham. The 2017 fiscal year was the most successful single year of fundraising in the University’s history, at $75.8 million. This year, the University’s Development and University Relations (DAUR) division was recognized with a 2019 Educational Fundraising Award for sustained excellence in fundraising programs over the past three years, putting Fordham’s advancement effort among the top 90 colleges and universities in the nation.

At the 2019 Fordham Founder’s Dinner, nearly $2.6 million was raised for Faith & Hope—specifically the Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund. It was the second-highest amount in the event’s 18-year history, with 100% participation from the Board of Trustees and the President’s Council. During the years of the campaign, the annual event raised nearly $12 million to support Founder’s scholars.

Nearly a million dollars was raised on Fordham’s third annual Giving Day last March—the most successful Giving Day to date. More than 3,000 participants—alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends of Fordham—raised $933,689 in 1,841 minutes. Most of the donations, which ranged from $1 to $100,000, came from the U.S., but some came from as far as Australia and the Philippines.

One of the campaign’s biggest accomplishments was the creation of the Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe Presidential Scholars Program—one of the most selective merit scholarships available to Fordham students. Three years ago, the scholarship program was established through a $20 million gift from Maurice J. (Mo) Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., UGE ’62, GSAS ’65, ’71. Over the next decade, it will fund a Fordham education—tuition, living expenses, internship, research, and study abroad opportunities—for dozens of talented students.

“Each year, Mo and I spend time with these students who are young stars with bright futures,” said Carolyn Cunniffe, a Faith & Hope co-chair. “We hope that they will contribute back to society far more than Mo and I can.”

Campaign co-chair Darlene Luccio Jordan, FCRH ’89, said Faith & Hope supported Fordham’s core values and identity.

“This campaign really went to the central mission of Fordham, which is our commitment to higher education and educating first-generation students, and keeping Fordham accessible, regardless of a student’s ability to pay,” she said.

Student Impact 

At the heart of the campaign were Fordham students and the donors who helped fuel their future.

In interviews and speeches spanning the past several years, students have described how a Fordham scholarship has changed their lives.

They talked about how a Fordham education helped shape their career paths. For some students, the University’s Jesuit values strengthened their Catholic faith, while others from different faiths said they felt welcome in the University community. Students also praised Fordham’s core curriculum, which encouraged them to connect with their neighbors in the Bronx. And they spoke about how Fordham helped them understand who they are and what legacy they want to leave behind.

Caroline Koenig, the daughter of seventh-generation French bakers, knew that attending Fordham would be a challenge. In high school, she experienced an injury that dashed her hopes of winning a college track scholarship. Fordham initially gave her a generous financial aid package, but it wasn’t enough. She was taking extra classes to graduate early and considering a commute from Connecticut to save money—that is, until she was awarded the Peter and Carol Howe Endowed Scholarship. It helped her land a summer internship at KPMG and identify her passion for forensic accounting.

“My parents taught me the value of hard work and holding onto your dreams. Because of them and because of Fordham, now I can follow my own,” Koenig said.

The campaign also made a college education possible for Fordham students who, in the face of overwhelming student debt, found it difficult to continue their education.

One of them is Muhammad El Shatanofy, the son of immigrant parents who dreamed of becoming a doctor. Throughout his time in Fordham’s neuroscience program, he wondered how he could pay for his undergraduate education without incurring debt. After all, he’d soon be paying for four years’ worth of medical school.

When he found out he was awarded the Founder’s Scholarship, which would pay for almost all his outstanding tuition costs, he was thrilled.

“It really has given me that extra motivation, so that now I just want to accomplish so much,” said El Shatanofy, who went on to mentor 12 high school students from disadvantaged high schools and volunteer at Mt. Sinai Hospital. “I have this drive to make other people happy that they invested in my education and my future.”

For many students, scholarships have left an emotional impact on their lives.

“There’s just no words I can give to express how thankful my family and I are. It takes a big load off our shoulders, and … I’m just so thankful because I wouldn’t be able to go to Fordham without you and apply to grad school,” Jeannie-Fay Veloso, GABELLI ’17, tells her scholarship donor, Robert D. Daleo, GABELLI ’72, in a campaign video. Seconds later, the two alumni embrace in tears.

What It Means to Give 

Faith & Hope’s scholarships were made possible through donations both big and small.

Among the campaign’s biggest donors, in addition to the co-chairs and their spouses, were Brian W. and Kathleen H. MacLean, both FCRH ’75; Susheel Kirpalani, LAW ’94; William J. Loschert, GABELLI ’61; Alice Lehman Murphy, the McKeon Family Foundation; Grace A. Dorney-Koppel, UGE ’60, and Ted Koppel; and Alex and Jean Trebek.

Many of them said they give back because they want to support the next generation of leaders and help families break out of the cycle of poverty through education. Some donors once stood in the same shoes as the students they now support.

“I came from a family where my father was a factory worker and my mother worked as a seamstress. I had two other brothers. So if I was going to do it, I was going to do it on my own—and my brother, too,” said Daleo, honorary campaign chair and chair of the Fordham Board of Trustees, who established a scholarship in his brother’s name. “We both went to Fordham. We both had scholarships, worked and paid our way. That scholarship helped me [and]  made the difference.”

Rosemary Santana Cooney, Ph.D., established a scholarship with her husband Patrick in recognition of her 42 years as a professor and associate dean at Fordham, her belief in generating a diverse student body, and her Puerto Rican heritage. Her scholarship will support minority students across Fordham.

“I was always aware that I was different—an outsider—because I tend to be dark, like my father. And I always worked extra hard because I figured as a woman and a minority, you had to work extra hard … I know, sympathetically, how hard these kids who try to make the transition are having to work. And I wanted to make sure that some of them were getting some help,” said Cooney.

For many donors, their Fordham experience gave them not only academic, social, and life skills—it showed them what they’re capable of.

“It’s taught me things about myself that I didn’t even know before,” said Sophie Scott, FCLC ’18, who studied journalism and now works as a production assistant at CNN. “Fordham literally showed me the world in a way I didn’t know possible, and a way I could fit into the world.”

Scott, echoing a sentiment shared by many donors, said she hopes to give that same experience to someone else.

“It literally brings me no greater joy than to think that someone else could be having that same experience—someone who, from a financial perspective, may not be able to,” said Scott, who serves as chair of the Young Alumni Philanthropy Committee at Fordham.

Faith & Hope marks the third of Fordham’s biggest campaigns since the early 1990s—a growing list of campaigns that are already transforming the world.

“It really is a win-win for both the donors and the students,” said Salice. “And ultimately, the world at large.”

Now that the University has successfully closed Faith & Hope, administrators and volunteers are planning for the launch of a new fundraising campaign that will be focused on enhancing the student experience and will include the construction of a new campus center at Rose Hill.

To read more success stories, visit the Faith & Hope campaign site.

“Your institution has not only demonstrated the highest levels of professionalism and best practice in its fundraising efforts, it has contributed to the betterment of educational advancement worldwide by serving as a model to which others can aspire,” wrote CASE president and CEO Sue Cunningham in the award letter.

DAUR, led by Vice President Roger A. Milici, Jr. since 2010, is responsible for all University fundraising; alumni relations; special events; and marketing and communications, including the publication of Fordham News.

While the award was granted this fiscal year, it is based on accomplishments from three previous years. The total amount raised during those fiscal years was $45.6 million in 2016, $75.8 million in 2017, and $49.5 million in 2018. Though not part of the analysis, Milici said the University closed this fiscal year at $67.1 million raised in gifts and pledges. It’s the pattern of growth in total support that helped Fordham garner notice from the judges, along with breadth and diversity of sources from which funds were raised.

For Milici, the win represents the evolution from a young and evolving advancement program to one that is on the cusp of becoming truly mature.

“It’s a point of pride in that it’s a total team win,” said Milici. “I think the recognition is especially poignant because it doesn’t talk about only the total number of gifts and pledges raised, but the continuity and systemic growth.”

The citation calls attention to the workings of a behind-the-scenes department that often deflects attention. But, Milici, along with Senior Executive Director of Development Robert Smith, pulled back the curtain to discuss vital strategies that brought about the award and keep the University competitive.

“None of this would be possible without receptive alumni and friends,” said Milici.

He noted that the pace and variety of campaigns must interest a range of donors on several levels, from fostering first-time donors in the Fordham Fund to continuing to pique the interests of large donors.

“It takes an evolving, mature operation to have that type of depth of prospects, so that you’re not just continuously returning to a small group of core donors to satisfy the campaign,” said Milici. “You’re constantly refreshing that pool so that even as the campaign ends, you interest newer donors.”

Milici said development must provide “a menu” of opportunities to give and it should be one “that elicits emotion and provides resonance.” But ultimately, he said, people give to trusted leadership, from the president to the provost to the faculty and staff and coaches. That trust is based in part on an assurance that the monies given will be used as the donors intended.

“We are trying to build long-term relationships, I like to call them ‘mission partners,’ whereas Father McShane [Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham] calls them ‘colleagues in ministry,’” said Milici. “The point is the same: these are people who believe in what the University stands for that they are in full partnership with us.”

Milici said he embraced the challenge of reaching out to Fordham’s diverse community, which includes three undergraduate colleges and graduate schools that range from law to social service. He said that while fundraisers may appeal to each of these groups in different ways, “the University mission arches over everything.”

The CASE award, he said, is something donors can feel good about.

“To be acknowledged by the industry is important and something that we should all take pride in. I think the message to our donors is that we are a well-run program,” he said.

Keeping the division operating at high performance levels falls to a variety of teams that includes research, which helps the university better understand donors and their interests, as well as Advancement Services and Advancement Technologies, said Smith.

“Part of our job is to make sure mutual understanding between the University and the donor are clear, what their expectations are of us, and vice-versa,” he said.

“I think the award also speaks to how donors come to trust what it is that we’re going to do as an institution with the gifts that they have given to us,” he said. “Over the years, we have strived to clearly lay out what those expectations are.”

It’s in that spirit of intent that gift agreements must be carefully worded, he said. And they must be forward-thinking.

“We not only need to understand what we are going to be doing in 2019, but what our successors are going to be doing in 20, 30, 100 years from now,” he said. “When we are setting up an endowed scholarship, we have to think about how funds generating income in perpetuity are going to be used 10 years, 50 years, or even 100 years.”

“We have to think about making sure that we can, in the future, follow the donor’s intent,” he said.

He added that Fordham fundraising is a far cry from its past.

“Before Father McShane started, it was a very, very well-defined group of donors with whom Fordham tended to continually engage,” he said. “With Father McShane, we really began a much more concerted and sophisticated effort to reach out to many more alums that previously had not had any contact with the University in any way—not through communications or alumni relations, let alone philanthropy. Today, we have built a community of mission investors that includes students, their parents, alumni, and friends.”