Message from President Marc C. Conner, Susan Gottlieb Beckerman '67 and Tom Wilmot '99

To all members of the Skidmore community:

Just over seven years ago, Skidmore embarked on Creating Our Future: The Campaign for Skidmore to provide for students and help them achieve lives of meaning and purpose, to capitalize on the College’s incredible momentum and to continue building resources for the future.

On behalf of Skidmore’s Board of Trustees, Nancy W. Hamilton ’77 and W. Scott McGraw P’12, original co-chairs of the Creating Our Future campaign, and members of the campaign’s Executive Committee, we are pleased to share the final results. Together, we concluded this record-setting campaign on Dec. 31, 2020, with $229.4 million raised from 27,193 donors. This campaign is the largest in the College’s history by nearly $13 million and is a credit to everyone in the Skidmore community who joined together to ensure its success. These past seven years were marked by milestones, achievements and incredible acts of dedication and generosity.

In publicly announcing the campaign in 2017, President Emeritus Philip A. Glotzbach and Marie Glotzbach said, “Today, Skidmore is seizing this moment — this position of strength — to launch Creating Our Future: The Campaign for Skidmore. This ambitious effort to raise $200 million will build on our reputation and provide the resources to ensure that creativity, collaboration and community flourish at the core of everything Skidmore does.”

Skidmore’s students and faculty have benefited from individual and collective support aimed at maintaining and strengthening academic programs and opportunities and responding to recent challenges, from an increased need for student financial aid to costs associated with teaching and learning during a pandemic. Faculty, staff and students have demonstrated resilience, adaptability and creativity. We know they are grateful to the donors who support Skidmore’s continued success. The Creating Our Future campaign is an important indicator of what our community can accomplish together in the years ahead.

The impressive resources raised through this campaign strengthen every aspect of the Skidmore experience. The impact of Creating Our Future is evident in the campaign’s six priorities:

• Construction of the Center for Integrated Sciences (CIS), the College’s largest academic initiative in history. The North Wing of CIS opened in the fall of 2020, and the entire project is expected to be completed in 2024.
• Increasing operating resources through the Skidmore Fund, which provides flexible, transformative and immediate support to help students pursue their studies and discover their passions while fueling campus operations.
• Providing more resources for Scholarships and Financial Aid to meet the growing needs of our students, with more than 40 new endowed funds established and other funding that supports more than 50 percent of Skidmore students.
• Building support of Athletics, Health and Wellness with funding for annual operations for all health and wellness opportunities, including our intercollegiate athletics program and the Valentine Boathouse.
• Strengthening operating endowment to support innovative exhibitions and distinctive programming at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, while acquiring inspiring artworks and archives that expand teaching resources across the disciplines.
• Adding new Career Development and Transformative Experiences for our students with nearly 800 career internship stipends, student research and other experiential opportunities that enhance post-graduation outcomes.

“This campaign brought our community together in important ways, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the support and engagement of alumni, parents, faculty and staff, foundations and other friends of the College who joined together in their support of Skidmore and our students,” said Nancy W. Hamilton ’77, current chair of the Board of Trustees and original co-chair of the campaign.

A record-setting number of individuals and organizations made gifts and commitments, volunteered their time and talents and attended events on campus, across the country and around the world, including:

• 27,193 individuals and organizations who made donations:
  • 4,265 alumni contributed their first gifts, including donors ranging from the Class of 1954 to 3,358 donors who gave through their senior class gift program
  • 16,457 donors - 61% - contributed gifts of less than $250
  • 2,510 Presidents Society donors gifted 81% of all funds raised
  • 48 donors contributed gifts of $1 million or more
• 6,336 alumni and parent volunteers who encouraged continued connection to Skidmore and financial participation
• 48 volunteers from our faculty and staff who led the campus campaign that involved 689 current and former employees and retirees
• 17,816 who attended on- and off-campus events during the campaign

Strengthening a creative, collaborative and community-centered future for Skidmore has always been at the core of Creating Our Future. Our commitment to this vision for the future remains steadfast. This is an incredibly important moment for our college because of what our entire community — past, present and future — has made possible. Going forward, our collective support will continue to keep Skidmore strong and true to its mission of delivering a life-changing education to our students and preparing them to thrive and lead lives of consequence after graduation.

Thank you for helping to make Creating Our Future a resounding success and for your continued commitment to our students and faculty.

Sincerely,

Marc C. Conner
President

Susan Gottlieb Beckerman ’67
Trustee and Campaign Co-Chair

Tom Wilmot ’99
Trustee and Campaign Co-Chair