Fundraising is how Taylor University supports and affords various projects and initiatives to grow its institution. The University Advancement Department focuses on these fundraising efforts, working separately from the school’s operational budget and grant processes.
The process of giving to the university is multifaceted. Typically, the university has pre-existing connections with individuals it believes would be interested in giving to specific projects due to personal connection or general subject interest, Mike Falder, vice president for University Advancement, said.
“It’s often a very spiritual process for (donors) of being obedient to what the Lord has called them to do with what he’s blessed them with (and) knowing that they are the stewards of the resources that God’s entrusted into their care,” Falder said.
The university finds donor interests and matches them with a project, presenting the idea and requesting if they would consider supporting the vision however the individual feels led to give.
Many university donors have been giving for years or are connected with someone associated with the school. Of the 15,000 financial gifts given to the Life to the Full Campaign in the last three years, 87% were donations of under $1,000, Falder said.
“While it’s newsworthy to talk about big, multimillion dollar gifts, there’s this firm foundation of faithful, loyal, annual gifts that also come with people’s prayers and their advocacy,” Falder said.
Alongside larger gifts, every donation — no matter the size — is critical, he said.
Donors choose how they want their gift to be used. The university is obligated to allocate that money for that purpose — doing otherwise could result in legal ramifications, Falder said.
Some donors may provide a gift telling the university to use “where it is most needed.” The entire university relies on the Taylor Fund, achieving its yearly goal and as a result, “where-it-is-most-needed” donations may sometimes go toward the Taylor Fund, although that is not always the case, Falder said.
“We have a long list of priorities,” Falder said. “We try to honor the donor. Even though they said ‘where most needed,’ we try to do something that we feel they would appreciate.”
The Board of Trustees and the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) determine what those priorities are, Falder said.
Continuously larger financial gifts to the Taylor Fund often encourages others to give in a similar manner. It is one of the reasons the university sends press releases about such donations — to encourage gifts inside and outside the Tayor family.
“What we really care about is the impact, the difference to be made (and) the way that money helps magnify the mission (and) helps provide things all around us,” Falder said.
The recent addition of the Horne Academic Center was funded entirely through philanthropy, Falder said.
“It was funded through the generosity of people who can catch the vision of why an expanded film program would make a difference for Taylor and make a difference in the Kingdom,” he said.
Taylor’s Board of Trustees has a policy in which the entirety of a project must be mapped out and identified along with 75% of its required funds in-hand — there are limited exceptions to that policy, one of which was the university’s nursing program, Falder said.
It is more difficult to raise money for a project once it has been completed, he said.
“I think the motivation (is that) generally, people who are philanthropic have a motivation to see something that’s not yet possible,” Falder said. “They want to make something possible that’s not yet possible. And once it’s in existence, they’re less motivated.”
Advancement’s goal for this fiscal year is to raise $60 million to be designated to specific purposes, including the Taylor Fund, scholarships, Nursing/Assistant Physician Studies renovations to the Randall Randall Environmental Studies Center, beginning elements of the Main Street Mile Initiative, estate giving, various departmental or athletic gifts and more.
Donors can designate the category of gift for their donation. Typically, annual gifts operate as a scholarship that is given, then used up, Falder said
When given an endowed gift, the university will only spend the interest the corpus (principal) earns, which is limited to 5% of a 60-month rolling average.
As a result, endowed gifts provide consistency in endowment spending, especially for scholarships, Falder said.
Buildings like the Horne Academic Center have an operations endowment requirement in the fundraising process, Falder said.
That money helps pay for the operating cost, using only the interest accumulated on the building’s operations endowment, Stephen Olson, vice president for finance and chief financial officer, said.
The university’s operating budget is primarily funded by student revenue, payments students make for their tuition as well as for room and board, while fundraising from Advancement focuses on specific projects and major scholarships, Olson said.
Student revenue does not pay for any new projects on campus such as the Horne Academic Center or the new nursing program. Support for those types of projects are fundraised separately so student tuition is not increased, Falder said.
Additional revenue is distributed to priorities that the SLT determines. Typically, that team will try to prioritize people and programs on campus, Olson said.
Operating costs include anything from the chairs students sit in, utility payments, maintenance requests, to faculty salaries, dining operations and more, Olson said.
The Taylor Fund, operating under the University Advancement umbrella, supports student scholarships, reduced tuition, residence life programming, chapel programming and several other directly student-related programs, Noah Huseman, coordinator for digital engagement and annual giving, said.
“Across the country, costs are rising a lot,” Huseman said. “Even as tuition is rising, the costs are rising even quicker. And so it’s really, really expensive to have quality residential programming, award-winning arts and theater, to have championship-level athletics, star faculty — everything that makes Taylor, Taylor.”
Tuition revenue does not completely support all these qualities of Taylor that students see, and, as a result, the Taylor Fund is used to fill that gap, he said.
From 2014 to 2024, the Taylor Fund results have more than doubled from $1.6 million to $3.3 million. This fiscal year’s goal is $3.4 million, Huseman said.
Kris Johnson, director of grants and sponsored programs, coordinates funding for academic programs. Things such as research or program development that may go beyond a department’s budget are supported through external funding that Johnson helps to identify, she said.
For Advancement, prayer is a key piece of their work, Falder said.
Each week, the team allots time to gather together and pray with one another. They also encourage alumni and parents to pray for Taylor and how its work will forward God’s Kingdom.
“It’s a big part of what we do, and it all goes back to this theology of Advancement that we have,” Falder said. “God owns everything and needs nothing, but we own nothing and need everything. God is the sole provider of all resources, and he uses good stewards to further his purposes.”
During early conversations regarding the financial goal for the Life to the Full Campaign, the university initially decided to aim for a lower amount than the current $500 million. Within that period, Taylor’s Board of Trustees, Cabinet, Campaign Council and Advancement staff entered into a time of prayerful discernment, Falder said.
Within approximately one month, the university received seven donations that each consisted of at least $1 million.
“We only asked for one of those,” Falder said. “The other six came without us asking — that never happens. Of the six that came unsolicited, three of them knew what we were doing (for the Life to the Full Campaign). The other three had no idea what was happening here. It was really evidence of the Lord speaking through people’s giving in profound ways.”
In response, the university decided to aim for the higher goal of $500 million, believing that God was showing them that he was the sole provider, Falder said.
“We’re not entitled to any of it,” Falder said. “This is all money that’s truly a gift. It’s from the Lord and we’re obligated to be good stewards. Every gift is a blessing.”
