In 2014, the Madison community started out on an ambitious journey — to set JMU apart and position it among the nation’s top universities. Through the generosity of nearly 64,000 donors who gave more than a quarter of a billion dollars for scholarships, programs and new buildings, Unleashed: The Campaign for James Madison University is helping to achieve that, while also making an incalculable impact on the lives of Dukes for generations to come.

Giving to JMU totaled more than $251 million, pushing the eight-year comprehensive campaign past all of its goals. It’s yet another instance of JMU defying the odds, with donors exceeding the goal of Unleashed by $51 million and exceeding expectations by almost twice that.

The campaign began July 1, 2014, with initial planning projections of $150 million. Going public in 2018 with a total giving goal of $200 million, Unleashed concluded June 30, 2022, riding a growing wave of alumni advocacy and generosity, and persisting through crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, associated financial hardship and social upheaval.

Donors’ giving not only eclipsed the $200 million Unleashed goal 18 months early, in March 2021, but also continued for the rest of the campaign in response to JMU President Jonathan R. Alger’s call for more scholarships for more students and accounting for 25% over goal. In fact, the final year of the campaign was JMU’s highest year of giving ever.

A decade ago, during President Alger’s “Why Madison?” Listening Tour, alumni, parents and friends began to see themselves as part of the university’s 10-year strategic plan, which called for a major fundraising campaign to increase the endowment.

After a tour stop in Reston, Virginia, the president was encouraged: “People told me, ‘We understand the need to give back,’ and ‘This is a new era for the university.’ I heard people say tonight that they were ready and willing.”

Business leader and entrepreneur Brian Bostic (’83) attended another “Why Madison?” event. “JMU is family,” he said. “It’s a huge part of our lives. It’s our responsibility to give back any way we can.”

As the Unleashed campaign took shape, vocal and passionate alumni made it clear they wanted to see their university on the national stage and they were ready to help take it there.

“It’s coming true,” Langridge said. “The big things donors wanted to see for JMU began to converge just as our donors were becoming a rising force in the life of the university. We became an R2 university and joined the Sun Belt athletic conference. Now we’ve landed at 72 in the national U.S. News and World Report Top Public Schools listings, and in October we broke into the Associated Press football poll at 25. It’s time for donors to celebrate their role.”

The big story — scholarships

Of the five overarching goals of the Unleashed campaign, “Opening Our Doors” attracted the most support at $102.6 million, with donors expressing a universal desire to increase access to the Madison Experience for more students and reward their exceptional performance. Donors’ gifts funded scholarships for academics, athletics and Valley Scholars as well as student support.

“Philanthropy means ‘love of humanity,’ and clearly that sentiment motivates all of our donors,” Langridge said. “They are telling us they want to make a difference, to positively affect students’ lives, and to open a world of possibilities to as many people as possible. This type of leadership shows us all how to live out JMU’s call for Being the Change.” 

Donors invested in scholarships across campus, for specific academic programs as well as focused scholarship initiatives, including financial aid to make the Madison Experience accessible for promising students with economic need. 

More than 770 Unleashed gifts totaling more than $22.4 million have provided academic scholarships for 6,212 students so far, making an even bigger and more lasting impact than statistics might show. Many of these students received renewable awards, which further compound the influence of donors’ gifts on student lives. Moreover, the number of student beneficiaries will continue to increase over time due to endowed scholarship gifts that are invested in the stock market and yield an ongoing yearly scholarship award. Further increasing scholarship giving, donors who gave to academic departments might also have supported additional student scholarships, as departments often use their general funds for a variety of student, faculty and program purposes. 

Donors’ scholarship giving also addressed a larger strategic reality — the need to increase JMU’s competitive ability to recruit students in the higher education landscape. 

“I’m grateful to our donors for wanting to help bring scholarship resources into line with JMU’s national academic reputation,” said Donna Harper (’77, ’81M, ’86Ed.S.), vice president for Access and Enrollment. “The Unleashed campaign has raised awareness and raised the stakes. Thanks to our donors, we are improving our ability to compete for the students who want the Madison Experience over universities that have deeper pockets to award scholarships. And we are not done!” 

In addition to Opening Our Doors, there were four more overarching Unleashed goals: 

Advancing our understanding

With giving totaling more than $83.5 million, donors gave to support academics and the JMU faculty, many wanting to help sustain the kind of professor-student relationships that they remember from their student years. Gifts toward the Advancing Our Understanding goal supported the Entrepreneurship Initiative, Faculty Success, Student Research and other academic areas to increase academic excellence and support the academic mission of the university.

Building our success

The Building Our Success campaign goal rallied donors to enhance campus facilities with giving totaling almost $40 million. Their gifts helped build the new Atlantic Union Bank Center as a home for JMU men’s and women’s basketball and community events. Donors also helped build the College of Business Learning Complex, including Hartman Hall, named for lead donors Jim (’70) and Carolyn Hartman, and the renovation of Showker Hall. CoBLC donors helped support more than 4,000 business majors, provide collaborative learning space and bring facilities into line with the academic reputation of the business school, which is consistently ranked among the nation’s best. Gifts to these facilities and to the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum expanded and enhanced campus by almost 481,889 square feet. 

Renewing our civil society

Donors gave more than $13.9 million for signature JMU programs that educate students to embrace people across our divides, foster productive dialogue and advocacy, and restore the founding principles of the American Experiment. Programs included the African, African American and Diaspora Studies Center; the Center for Service- Learning; the Ethical Reasoning in Action program with its proprietary Eight Key Questions; the nationally recognized Furious Flower Poetry Center; the Honors College; the nonpartisan James Madison Center for Civic Engagement; and Study Abroad. 

Realizing our vision

Savvy donors who understand the need to create a base of flexible funding gave more than $11.8 million. Their support has gone toward seeding new programs, retaining exceptional talent, funding strategic partnerships, improving campus safety and security, creating unique learning opportunities for students and enhancing diversity initiatives. 

Athletics

Intercollegiate athletics holds a special place in the hearts of many Dukes, who gave more than $45 million to support JMU teams and student-athletes. Their giving accounts for 18.7% of the $251 million campaign total. 

Last year, fundraising for JMU Athletics surpassed $5 million from 4,695 donors — both records. Fans stepped up to the #DukesRise Challenge, with excitement building over JMU’s move to the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Sun Belt Conference. JMU Athletics is today excelling on the national stage. In football, 7,582 season tickets were purchased — another record — and in October, the team was ranked 25th by the Associated Press. People around the U.S. are taking notice: From Google searches and media attention to paid media coverage and social media mentions, total impressions are skyrocketing. 

Greather things to come

Perhaps modest in comparison to the endowments of the richer flagship schools JMU is compared to academically, the $251 million achievement of the university’s second comprehensive campaign is an important benchmark. 

“It’s no secret that our university has big aspirations,” Langridge said, “so it’s clear philanthropy must play a significant role in complementing tuition and state funding. Donor investment in the Unleashed campaign is a signal that we’re on our way. It gives us the confidence to be ambitious, knowing that alumni, parents and friends have the passion, willingness and pride to sustain a bold philanthropic trajectory into our future.”