Harvard Business School Launches $500M Capital Campaign

The funds will be used to fund a renewal of the business school campus, including the first major renovation of its library, and several student residences as well as support initiatives in student financial aid, global research, faculty development, and technology. The campaign raised a nucleus fund of nearly half the goal prior to the public launch.

Kim B. Clark, dean of the school points out that the "changing world calls for new skills in our graduates and a new standard of leadership in education from Harvard Business School. The campaign will allow us to make essential investments that are critical to this kind of education." Harvard president Lawrence Summers emphasizes that what "Harvard Business School does in the next twenty years will be more important than what it has done in any twenty-year period in its history. There has simply never been a greater need for the kind of knowledge and leaders Harvard Business School creates."

The school has a "need-blind" admissions policy, and the campaign will raise $100 million for fellowships, increasing resources for student financial aid. These funds, the school emphasizes in a release, "will keep HBS accessible to the broadest possible range of talented students, enhance admissions efforts, and allow graduating students to make career choices less influenced by debt constraints."

The campaign has also targeted $100 million for faculty initiatives, including funds for a Teaching and Learning Center and new endowed chairs at the tenured and junior faculty levels. Another $100 million of the funds that will be raised will go towards the faculty's work in international research and course development. This work is facilitated by the school's Global Initiative, which includes regional research centers and offices in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and Silicon Valley that enable the school's faculty to build deeper connections with business leaders and academic institutions worldwide.

The campaign will also raise $120 million to fund continuing investments in technology, including video and multimedia cases, online simulations, and fiber-optic transmissions. Last year, the school opened Hawes Hall, the first classroom building constructed at the School since 1953, which enables the use of advanced technologies in learning.

The campaign also includes investments in campus facilities, among them the Spangler Center, a campus center that opened in 2001. A new faculty academic center will be part of the Baker Library renovation.

The Harvard Business School endowment is currently valued at approximately $1.3 billion. Distributions from the endowment contribute approximately 17% of the school's $300 million annual operating budget and support programs specifically designated by donors of these restricted funds. Currently, 93 percent of the HBS endowment is restricted. The campaign will provide resources for new initiatives of the School not supported by the current endowment.