Business School Capital Campaign Passes $861 Million

Harvard Business School had raised $861 million toward its capital campaign goal of $1 billion at the end of June, according to Business School spokesperson Officer Brian Kenny.

The school raised more than $600 million in gifts and pledges as part of the “quiet phase” of its campaign, which publicly launched in April 2014. The remaining $261 million was raised since then.

By Karen Zhou

At 15 percent of the University-wide $6.5 billion fundraising drive, the Business School’s goal is the second largest of Harvard's schools, behind the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' $2.5 billion campaign.

The Business School will use the funds it raises through the campaign to increase financial aid for students, support faculty research, fund efforts such as research and conferenes abroad, and construction on the school’s residential campus. Construction is now ongoing at the school's Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, a new education center with classrooms, meeting spaces, and a cafeteria.

The campaign also looks to finance online education programs like HBX Live and CORe.

As of mid-September, the University has raised $6.1 billion in gifts and pledges in the University-wide campaign, edging close to its $6.5 billion goal. The FAS’s campaign has also nearly reached its $2.5 billion goal, having raised a total of $2.2 billion.

Harvard Medical School, meanwhile, has raised more than 60 percent of its goal, and the Graduate School of Education had its most successful fundraising year ever, raising $177 million, nearly 71 percent of its $250 million campaign, as of Sept. 30.

In September, University President Drew G. Faust said the University has no plans to raise the campaign’s fundraising goal despite the likelihood that it will soon surpass it.

The Business School and the rest of the University's schools have roughly three years left to fundraise before the overall fundraising effort concludes in 2018. This is the fourth campaign since the Business School’s founding in 1908; its most recent capital campaign closed in 2005.