Using the national spotlight as its guide, Ball State University is announcing progress on a new fundraising campaign Friday night.
Ball State Bold, a capital campaign totaling about $200 million, is being presented during halftime of the Ball State vs. Navy football game.
Specifics of the funding project have been kept secret until they are officially revealed.
Ben Hancock, vice president of university advancement, said the plan's unveiling was determined to be this fall and the nationally televised football game fell into the time window.
"We felt it was a great opportunity with the Navy football game bringing people back to campus to have the campaign kick off," Hancock said. "With the sold-out stadium and the national audience, it creates quite an opportunity to tell Ball State's story to the listening and viewing audience and the 20,000 in the stadium and tell them that we are launching Ball State Bold."
The money raised will be geared toward initiatives within Ball State's Strategic Plan that President Jo Ann Gora announced last year.
With the fundraising deadline set for June 30, 2011, the plan is coming out of its "quiet phase" and into its "active phase," Hancock said.
The plan's five goals - attracting higher quality students, offering more immersive learning, increasing the number of nationally recognized faculty and programs, creating a vibrant campus community, and embracing and supporting partnerships and collaborations across the university - were made to differentiate Ball State from other four-year universities in the state, according to the plan.
The announcement of the university's progress Friday night comes after receiving large amounts of funding, and, Hancock said, the university is prepared to show where that money has been distributed.
Ball State has raised all of this money in the private sector and, he said, the individuals, corporations and organizations have all shown interest in the university's strategic plan. Keeping the capital campaign money raised through philanthropy has kept the costs away from students, Hancock said.
The idea for Ball State Bold started in 2004 and has developed over the last four years. The university will be having a luncheon for those who have contributed to the project today in Sursa Hall to celebrate the public launch.
"The whole premise of the campaign is the student focus," Hancock said. "Between more scholarships, immersive learning and investing in the best faculty, all that is based towards the best interests for students. Very much, if not all, of the $200 million is geared towards students."
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