Miami receives largest donation in university’s history, reaches $1B fundraising goal
Crawford said during his address the campaign will continue until June 30, 2027, to raise more funds.
Miami University has reached its $1 billion fundraising goal – the largest in the school’s history – with a contribution of up to $100 million over the next decade from the Farmer Family Foundation.
Miami President Gregory Crawford announced during his State of the University Address on Nov. 5 that the namesake of the Farmer School of Business intends to begin their contribution with $55 million over the next three years. The full donation will be the largest in the university’s history and one of the top three largest gifts to a public undergraduate business school in the country.
Part of the donation includes a $25 million matching gift, with which the foundation will match other donations to the Farmer School of Business of $25,000 or more and up to $2.5 million from any one donor.
Miami’s $1 billion campaign launched in 2022 as a way for the university to invest in scholarships, business and entrepreneurship, clinical health sciences, digital innovation and technology. Nearly a third – $320 million – is currently earmarked for scholarships, according to a university press release. More than 80% will be spent on academics.
The original goal for the campaign was to set aside $450 million for scholarships, and Senior Director of Communications Seth Bauguess told the Oxford Free Press in an email the university continues to work toward that goal. Bauguess said there are other unrestricted gifts to the university that have been designated for scholarships that have not been counted in the current $320 million figure.
During a Miami Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting in June, the last BOT meeting in which progress on the campaign was discussed, Crawford told members the university had raised $836 million up to that point.
More than 57,000 alumni and other contributors have provided gifts toward the campaign to date, according to the release, and philanthropic investments have helped to grow Miami’s endowment to more than $1 billion.
Crawford said during his address the campaign will continue until June 30, 2027, to raise more funds.
The university president told the press following his address, when Miami started collecting money in 2016 before the official launch of the campaign, it had a “grand ambition” for strategic planning and knew its alumni and other donors would provide support.
He said the campaign will help Miami “build (its) reputation overall” and make the school “more attractive for students in many different ways to come to our campus, into our business school, and also it’ll be just an amazing support for faculty, students, and staff projects, experiential learning and the various things that they do so well at the Farmer School of Business.”
Miami’s BOT approved a resolution in October to certify a new development for the Farmer School of Business that will be located on the development site alongside the new arena, although an exact position has not yet been determined.
Crawford told the Oxford Free Press that, given a request for state funding for $23.7 million to support the construction of a “Farmer School of Business, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Industry Engagement Facility,” which Miami is also fundraising to support, the $100 million donation from the Farmer Family Foundation will not be used for the project. He said the new donation is entirely separate as part of the university’s campaign.
“The Farmer Family Foundation gift today is for many other incentives, activities, project learning, experiential learning and faculty and staff,” Crawford said.
Jenny Darroch, dean of the Farmer School of Business, told the press following Crawford’s address that the gift will allow the school to “accelerate many things we’ve been working on over the last few years.”
“We graduate people who can add value to any organization from day one,” Darroch said. “But the needs of organizations and employers have changed quite quickly, and so it gives us the opportunity to invest and move fast to keep up with the changing needs of business.”
More specifically, Darroch said the gift will be used to help students with career outcomes. These initiatives include assigning personal career coaches for students, access to experiential learning opportunities and developing skills in emerging technologies. She said the gift will also be used to launch a career acceleration fund to put aside money to help them gain industry certifications.
Dick and Joyce Farmer are both Miami alumni who have contributed several donations to the university over the years in support of the business school, including in 1992, when they gave a leadership gift that led to the naming of the school as the Richard T. Farmer School of Business.
Scott Farmer, son of Dick and Joyce, said in a statement provided by Miami public relations, “Miami University’s Farmer School of Business has long been recognized as one of the top business schools in the country. This gift is about ensuring the Farmer School remains a groundbreaking trendsetter focused on student outcomes.”
“We hope this gift inspires others to support the university as well,” Scott said. “Miami has built a strong national reputation that continues to grow with each year. This gift, along with the generosity of others, reinforces the school’s strengths and encourages innovation as the Farmer School prepares its students to be global leaders.”
