Mississippi University for Women has hired a fundraising company to conduct a feasibility study determining whether the university should launch a capital campaign.
It would be the university’s first-ever formal capital campaign, according to MUW Foundation Executive Director Andrea Stevens.
Sinclair, Townes and Company, an Atlanta-based firm, began the study in mid-summer, sending out more than 2,000 surveys to alumni and other community members who could potentially help raise funds for the university. The study will also include in-person interviews.
For now, the university does not have a particular fundraising goal in mind, Stevens said.
“Part of the feasibility study includes testing our constituent base for dollar amounts to be raised,” she said in an email to The Dispatch.
If the campaign goes forward, the money raised will be used to increase scholarships, enhance programs and repair or build more facilities. Stevens added any money raised in a capital campaign would also give the university an idea of what they could raise in future campaigns.
Stevens hopes the company will be ready to present the findings of the study at the MUW Foundation board’s November meeting.
It’s typical for universities to hold studies like these before fundraising, Stevens said.
“You want to know,” she said. “The feasibility study determines where you might be able to raise money, but it also determines who would be willing to help you in terms of volunteers to assist with the campaign. Obviously it’s a university-wide effort in fundraising.
“I am very hopeful and very excited about the possibility that we will be ready to move forward,” she added.
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