$600 Million Fundraising Initiative Launched by UMass Amherst to Promote Progress for the Common Good

The University of Massachusetts Amherst, the commonwealth’s flagship campus, has announced the launch of “Accelerate: The Campaign for UMass Amherst,” a $600 million effort that represents the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the university’s 161-year history.

The campaign, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation (UMAF), aims to support three major commitments: revolutionizing access to higher education; growing investment in cutting-edge research, teaching and creative endeavors; and magnifying the university’s impact on the common good.

“This campaign will enable our faculty and students to continue to ask the boldest questions, lean into the most pressing challenges, and expand the boundaries of knowledge through pioneering research, innovation and scholarship,” says Chancellor Javier Reyes. “Building upon a sustained legacy of excellence, we will fuel the future of UMass Amherst’s leadership across the commonwealth and beyond.”

“Every day, our faculty and students are leading change and shaping our world for the better with breakthroughs and innovation in the natural and social sciences, engineering, health care, and computation, as well as in the arts and humanities,” says Provost Fouad Abd-El-Khalick. “Through this campaign, we seek visionary and passionate partners who will help propel the work of our talented people and amplify their impact globally.”

To date, over $452 million has been raised from more than 98,000 donors, achieving over 75 percent of the goal. The previous campaign conducted by UMass Amherst, “UMass Rising,” ran from 2010 to 2016 and raised $379 million from more than 103,000 donors.

“Accelerate: The Campaign for UMass Amherst” includes transformative lead gifts from donors including:

• A $21.5 million naming gift from the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Charitable Foundation to the College of Nursing is supporting student scholarships, an endowed professorship, the work of the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation, and mentoring and research initiatives that create access and equity for nursing students from a variety of backgrounds.
• A $20 million pledge by Douglas ’71 and Diana Berthiaume to the Isenberg School of Management to create endowed faculty positions, endowed doctoral fellowships, a new behavioral research laboratory and expanded faculty research at the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship. “UMass Amherst provided me a remarkable education which opened doors that led to an extremely successful professional life, so I want to give back,” said Doug Berthiaume, who is among the biggest supporters of the university and served as a co-chair of the “UMass Rising” campaign.
• A $10 million gift from Jerome ’60 and Linda Paros to endow the Paros Center for Atmospheric Research at UMass Amherst, a center of excellence where students and faculty conduct high-impact research projects in atmospheric sciences, distributed geophysical sensing, and hazard warning and mitigation to revolutionize the nation’s ability to forecast, plan and respond to climate and weather events.

The bulk of the campaign’s $600 million goal is expected to come from alumni, parents and friends making contributions in smaller amounts and engaging in supportive volunteer efforts, officials said.

“The goals set forth for this campaign are ambitious,” says UMAF President Arwen Duffy. “But the collective power of our community makes them achievable. Alumni cherish their ties to the university, carry that pride with them, and bring inspiring energy to serving as ambassadors for UMass Amherst.”

With a focus on bringing together people with diverse expertise, state-of-the-art resources and new approaches to big questions, the Accelerate campaign will further distinguish UMass Amherst as a top public research university and a leader in advancing knowledge that serves communities across the commonwealth, the nation and the world.