Business School Passes $1 Billion Campaign, Raises Goal by $300 Million

The Harvard Business School has surpassed its $1 billion capital campaign goal over a year ahead of the campaign’s deadline, prompting a $300 million addition to the original campaign goal.

Despite surpassing its overall goal of $6.5 billion last year, University President Drew G. Faust has repeatedly said Harvard will not raise its overall fundraising goal, though some peer universities, like Columbia, raised their goals during successful capital campaigns.

But the Business School is taking a slightly different tack than the University, raising its goal before the campaign's end.

“As we look to the next two years, we have identified an additional goal of $300 million we seek to raise, reflecting the importance of sustaining the initiatives we have launched, providing future flexibility, and strengthening the core,” Business School Dean Nitin Nohria wrote in a press release.

During the “quiet phase” of the campaign, which was publically launched in June 2014, the school raised more than $600 million in gifts and pledges. Since then, it has raised the remaining $400 million thanks to more than 24,000 “alumni and friends” that contributed to the campaign, Ellen Harkavy, the senior director of the Business School campaign, wrote in an email.

The Business School’s goal of $1 billion comprises 15 percent of the University-wide $6.5 billion campaign. It is the second largest goal among Harvard’s schools, after the $2.5 billion campaign goal for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Harkavy wrote that the money raised in the remainder of the campaign will be used to support faculty research, endow more associate professorships, and fund financial aid for MBA fellowships. Harkavy also wrote that the Business School plans to work with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences—its future neighbor in Allston—to “build educational bridges” between the schools.

“The list of ways the Campaign has impacted [the Business School] has both breadth and depth,” Harkavy said.

She also said the Business School will use the funds from the campaign to bolster the HBS Fund for Leadership and Innovation.The Business School’s capital campaign will conclude in June 2018, along with those of the University’s other schools.

—Staff writer Luke W. Xu can be reached at luke.xu@thecrimson.com.