GROVE CITY, Pa. – An anonymous $7 million contribution to Grove City College helped meet and surpass the goal of the College’s largest and most successful capital campaign.

Grove City Matters: A Campaign to Advance Grove City College raised a record $95 million, the College reported Friday. With a goal of generating $90 million to fund scholarships, construct new buildings, support the work of the College’s Center for Vision & Values and Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and more, Grove City Matters was the largest fundraising campaign in College history.

“For nearly 140 years, Grove City College has been committed to the mission of preparing young men and women to be exemplary citizens through an extraordinary education impacting heads, hearts and hands. The success of this capital campaign makes it clear that this mission is valuable and important to thousands of individual donors. Each gift is a validation of the great work the College is engaged in,” College President Paul J. McNulty ’80 said.

The fruits of the campaign are already visible on campus with the completion of Rathburn Hall, the College’s Christian activities building, and STEM Hall, a state-of-the-art science, technology, engineering and mathematics building. The campaign raised more than $37 million to establish 130 new scholarships to help worthy students. It also generated more than $4.5 million for the Center for Vision & Values, a think tank committed to advancing faith and freedom, and the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, a groundbreaking effort that focuses on student startups.

Support for Grove City Matters came from Grove City’s powerful alumni base and the legion of friends of the College who have aligned themselves with its historical mission of providing a rich academic tradition at an amazing value in a community of Christian learners.

“Success just would not have been possible without the profound generosity of more than 16,500 individuals and organizations who believe in the campaign theme that what we do here at Grove City College matters,” McNulty said. “Their gifts promise to position us well to advance our historic mission and have a lasting, profound and transformative impact on our students, our community and the world for many years to come.”

Notable gifts to the campaign included: $4.5 million from the Richard King Mellon Foundation for STEM Hall; $3 million for the Christian activities building from Jayne and David R. Rathburn ’79, chairman of the College’s Board of Trustees; $1 million from Richard G. Staley ’62 for STEM Hall and the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation; and $7 million from an anonymous donor.

“The anonymous donor is a friend of the college who clearly values what we do here. They want to make sure that the focus remains on the campaign and what it means for students and the institution,” Jeff Prokovich ’89, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, said. “We are enormously grateful to everyone who gave to Grove City Matters and gratified that the College is where they decided to dedicate their charitable gifts.”
McNulty acknowledged the instrumental role his predecessor, Dr. Richard G. Jewell ’67, played in the campaign. Jewell, the College’s eighth President, launched Grove City Matters and led the effort for three years.

“I would be remiss if I did not give credit to the incredible service Dick Jewell contributed to the College. Dick’s expertise in development proved invaluable to the success of the campaign,” McNulty said.

The campaign, which former First Lady Laura Bush helped kick off in May 2011, was the most ambitious in the school’s history. Combined with the previous Change & Commitment campaign, the College has raised more than $160 million in a little over a decade. 

Contact Jacki Muller, Senior Director of Marketing & Communications at 724-458-3302 or jpmuller@gcc.edu.