And now there’s $1.4 billion, as Campaign surpasses financial goal

By Ann Wendland

Lights blazed in offices across Caltech on December 31, 2007, as staff and faculty helped benefactors complete gifts to the “There’s Only One. Caltech” campaign. That night, Caltech passed the campaign goal of $1.4 billion! But the even more resounding success was in the number of contributors, more than a third of whom gave for the first time. If all of the campaign contributors came to Caltech to celebrate, they would line the streets around campus and its athletic fields four deep (16,329 contributors, interval: 44 inches). There would be 10 benefactors for each word in this article.

“The end of a campaign is always a time for celebration and recognition—to celebrate achieving our goal, and to recognize the many people who made that possible with their financial contributions and wise counsel,” said Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau. “I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who so generously supported the most ambitious fund-raising effort in the Institute’s history.

“This milestone means that Caltech researchers can focus their attention on what they do best—making groundbreaking discoveries that establish new frontiers in science and engineering,” added Chameau. “This campaign gives them the freedom to think big and accomplish their dreams.”

Among the newly funded dreams is the Thirty-Meter Telescope, which, when built, will be the largest telescope in the world. Dozens of projects have become tangible realities during the campaign, such as the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy—a radio observatory in the Sierras—and the Molecular Observatory synchrotron beamline, which produces intense X-ray beams to determine the structures of proteins.

The campaign raised more than $1.424 billion, including the largest private gift ever made to an institution of higher learning—$600 million in a combined gift from Gordon Moore, PhD ’54, his wife, Betty, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. That gift will strengthen Caltech’s endowment and support some 20 new initiatives and centers investigating cell regulation, molecular biology, astronomy and astrophysics, tectonics, geochemical and cosmochemical microanalysis, neurobiology, socioeconomics, sustainable energy, chemical synthesis, as well as achieving diversity in science and engineering, and more.

The campaign also raised $60 million to endow new professorships and funded 99 new undergraduate scholarships. The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program will continue to thrive with an infusion of more than $11 million, $8.5 million of which will go into SURF’s endowment and provide permanent support.

A $200 million gift from the Moore Foundation has taken the Thirty-
Meter Telescope (artist’s rendering above left), a key campaign goal, one
step closer to reality. At right, the Cahill Center for Astronomy
and Astrophysics nears completion. Made possible through a lead gift from Charles Cahill and his late wife, Anikó Dér Cahill, as well as gifts from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation; Michael Scott ’65; trustee Fred Hameetman ’62 and Joyce Hameetman; and the Kenneth T. & Eileen L. Norris Foundation, the new facility will fulfill Caltech’s longstanding goal of bringing its astronomy and astrophysics programs together under one roof.

The campaign’s success is visible all over campus. A changing tableau of excavators, loaders, and cranes reflects the progress of the Schlinger Laboratory for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, the Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology, and the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Renovations of the historic Dabney Hall of Humanities and the South House undergraduate housing complex are already complete.

More than 10,000 alumni donated nearly $455 million during the campaign, 78 trustees gave $379 million, and more than 700 foundations and corporations granted $671 million. (Some gifts and donors are counted in more than one constituency group.)

Gary Dicovitsky, vice president for development and alumni relations, points out one more important statistic: “Almost $23 million of the campaign gifts came from 572 faculty and staff members at Caltech and JPL. That employees, who contribute so much through their daily work, went the extra mile to support the Institute really conveys how positively people feel about Caltech.”

Trustee Wally Weisman served as campaign chairman. “I’d like to thank Wally for his leadership of the campaign,” said Chameau. “We couldn’t have come this far without his energy, guidance, and encouragement.”

Kent Kresa, chair of Caltech’s Board of Trustees, acknowledged his predecessor Ben Rosen and President Emeritus David Baltimore for their vision, planning, and execution of the early days of the campaign. Kresa noted that reaching the goal is a historic occasion.

“Caltech is, in scientific vernacular, orders of magnitude smaller than other institutions undertaking such a large campaign,” he said. “To have exceeded that goal is thrilling and gratifying.”

Kresa acknowledged that there are financial challenges in the Institute’s competition for the best and brightest students, faculty, and staff. As Chameau adds, “Right now, our resources are still very good—especially given the accomplishments of this campaign—but they need to be the very best if we want to keep working at the frontiers of knowledge. The best way to ensure that we will always be able to provide everything our researchers need is to keep growing our endowment.”

As they look ahead to building Caltech’s endowment, the Institute’s administrators can feel buoyed by the outpouring of contributions during the campaign. Through their gifts, alumni, friends, faculty, and staff expressed powerful support for Caltech’s mission: to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education; to investigate the most challenging, fundamental problems in science and technology in a singularly collegial, interdisciplinary atmosphere; and to educate outstanding students to become creative members of society.

Alumni, who have personally experienced Caltech’s mission and culture, contributed generously, in part because of the challenge, camaraderie, and respect they experienced here.

That freshmen would be respected and valued came as something of a shock to Kiyo Tomiyasu ’40 when he arrived at Caltech in the 1930s, a self-described “scared rabbit.” In a 2006 interview, Kiyo spoke about how his Caltech experience shaped his philanthropic goals. His two guiding questions were, “How did I get where I am today?” and “How can I benefit society as a whole?” He thought of Caltech’s honor code and how well the collaborative environment had prepared him for his career (for his notable contributions in electrical engineering and communications technologies he received Caltech’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002). He remembered the professors who took time to help him and other undergraduates grasp the material they were studying, while also completing world-changing research. In 1977, he and his wife, Eiko, a chemist by training, began to fund scholarships at the Institute, eventually also endowing a professorship and helping push the campaign over its goal on December 31, 2007, by endowing a Presidential Discretionary Fund to advance Caltech priorities. The Tomiyasus have given annually for more than 30 years.

Top: Eiko and Kiyo Tomiyasu (center) are joined by (left to right) SURF students Caleb Ng, Parvathy Menon, and Daniel Chao, whose projects the Tomiyasus have helped support through gifts to the SURF program. Above, from left, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Chair Dave Tirrell and Katharine and Warren Schlinger dig in at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Schlinger Laboratory.

During the campaign, Kiyo and Eiko made lead gifts to the SURF program. In the years to come, campaign gifts to SURF will support hundreds of fellowships. SURF offers undergraduates unparalleled opportunities to pursue original, independent research, working one-on-one with Caltech faculty and JPL scientists. Many other “scared rabbits” will experience a warm welcome into this scientific community because of the gifts of a few who studied at Caltech years ago.

In 2006, four alumni issued a challenge to their fellow former residents of the South Houses. After nearly eight decades of occupation by highly creative undergraduates, the houses, untouched by advances from modern wiring to wireless, needed help. Caltech Trustee Alexander Lidow ’75, Richard Beatty ’77, Ray Sidney ’91, and an anonymous alum put up a total of $1 million to match gifts made to the restoration of the four houses. Their challenge helped move renovations forward and enabled a thoughtful process with ongoing student and alumni input. Renovations preserved historic architecture, the tradition of distinguishing each residence with whimsical details, and two dozen outstanding examples of the houses’ unique “wall art.” The houses reopened in December 2006. Once again, alumni brought the best of their experience to a new generation.

Across campus, a very different building is under construction, thanks to Warren Schlinger ’44, PhD ’49, and his wife, Katharine. Warren, who spent 12 years at the Institute, earning degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering and staying for postdoctoral and teaching positions, met Katharine while she was working as a departmental secretary for chemical engineering. The Schlingers’ lasting bond with Caltech chemists and chemical engineers led them to contribute $20 million to Caltech, enabling construction of the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Laboratory for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, the first Caltech building to house both disciplines under one roof. The Schlingers have turned their colleagues’ and friends’ visions into reality by taking the lead on funding this new building, packed with labs and teaching and meeting facilities.

Inspired by memories of his Caltech student days, Mike Milder has established four undergraduate scholarships at the Institute.

And then there’s Michael Milder ’59, who attended Caltech on a scholarship. In appreciation for the support he received as a student, Mike has established a permanent, endowed, need-based scholarship that will support such student-life–related expenses as room, board, and fees for four Caltech students each year. He named the scholarship in honor of George Mayhew, the MOSH (Master of Student Houses) during his years in Ricketts House. Mike drew on his memories of the rich student life he experienced at Caltech as inspiration for the scholarship. “I always thought about giving back,” he said, adding, “The idea of this award came to me as a perfect way to remember Dr. Mayhew, who meant so much to my generation at Tech.”

The stories behind these few gifts make the campaign numbers even more impressive—each of the 16,329 gifts has a story, a reason that someone chose to support the challenge and the promise of study and research at Caltech.

There hasn’t been a campaign of this magnitude on Caltech’s behalf since 1926, when railroad magnate and philanthropist Henry Huntington asked 100 of his closest friends to give $1,000 annually for 10 years to develop a “technical school of the highest class” in the heart of Southern California. That was a sizable amount of money to request, but Caltech’s eloquent and visionary founder George Ellery Hale persuaded Huntington’s friends of the wisdom of creating a scientific and technical institution second to none. That early funding was followed by decades of support from benefactors who expanded the Institute’s leadership in science and engineering. Now, alumni and friends have once again demonstrated the power of individual people to make a big difference. Says Chameau, “With this kind of spirit and support, we can only succeed in building an even stronger foundation for the future of the Institute.”