Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,
Greetings from the Division of Advancement and External Relations! As we approach the end of autumn quarter and the start of the holiday season, DePaul is bustling with activity and spirit. That’s certainly true for our corner of the campus. I’d like to take a moment to share some exciting news about philanthropy, alumni engagement, and the university’s biggest day of collaborative fundraising.
Campaign Update
I am excited to report that DePaul’s Board of Trustees has approved a goal of raising $650 million for the university’s next major philanthropic campaign. This follows a recently completed, extensive feasibility study during which we:
- audited our data universe and operational readiness, including overall capacity of the alumni community, fundraising productivity, and resources afforded to the division;
- conducted an alumni insight survey that tested broad themes and attitudes from a wide range of constituents, including the motives behind their philanthropic participation (or non-participation); and
- conducted personal interviews with sophisticated philanthropists, subject matter experts, and loyal DePaul community members.
We anticipate publicly launching the campaign in fall 2025 with a targeted close date in fiscal year 2030. The fundraising goal within these parameters will strengthen DePaul’s overall capacity to fundraise, increase constituent engagement, and cement DePaul as one of the preeminent Chicago universities.
The campaign is a key pillar of the
Designing DePaul visionary roadmap launched by President Manuel in fall 2023. It’s also an academically focused complement to the
ongoing Athletics campaign that will bring a state-of-the-art basketball practice facility to the Lincoln Park Campus and has already resulted in the successful Sullivan Athletic Center and McGrath-Phillips Arena modernization project.
We look forward to shaping our priorities and meeting these ambitious goals through our ongoing partnerships across the university community, and we will continue to share campaign updates as we go.
Alumni & Family Weekend
DePaul alumni, families, and students painted the town blue at Alumni & Family Weekend on October 18–20! The campus was alive with Blue Demon spirit all weekend long as more than 1,500 alumni, parents, and students enjoyed events such as the Blue Demon Bash, receptions, brunches, women’s basketball and men’s soccer games, and classroom sessions with Society of Vincent de Paul professors. This year, our Alumni Relations and Parent Engagement staff collaborated with campus partners including Student Affairs, Athletics, various schools and colleges, and others to facilitate activities for alumni, parents, current students and family members, and the response was inspiring.
Blue Demon Challenge
Save the date! The Blue Demon Challenge, DePaul’s 24-hour marathon day of giving, will take place Thursday, January 30, 2025! Last year, more than 4,600 donors from across campus, the nation, and the world came together to raise $5,300,000 for DePaul. This time around, our goal is 4,750 unique donors. It’s truly a day of inspiring teamwork (with a dose of friendly competition) that brings us together to raise funds for areas of the university we care deeply about. Our division has been hard at work lining up challenges, engaging donors for matches, and strategizing communications and promotional media and materials, and our pace will only increase as we approach the big day. Stay tuned for updates from Advancement about how you can play an important role in this annual tradition.
We are excited for the next few months ahead. We deeply appreciate the continued collaboration with the entire university community in all aspects of our division’s priorities and goals and look forward to all we will accomplish together for DePaul. Go Blue Demons!
Sincerely,
Katie Fraumann
Senior Vice President
Division of Advancement and External Relations