For the third consecutive year, Boise State University broke its philanthropic record in fiscal year 2024, with giving totaling $61.3 million from 28,146 individual donors.
“We are incredibly excited to announce the success that our Unbridled campaign has already achieved, and we are grateful to the thousands of donors who have shown their support for Boise State University students, faculty, programs, and athletics! These gifts positively impact individuals, often changing their lives for the better, and they also profoundly impact Idaho and our broader world,” said Dr. Marlene Tromp, Boise State president.
Publicly launched in October 2023 and running through 2028, Unbridled: The Campaign for Boise State University is the university’s most ambitious philanthropic and alumni engagement campaign in its history, with a fundraising goal of $500 million to make key investments in endowed scholarships, endowed faculty positions, and Bronco Athletics. Since October, donors have established 41 new scholarship funds, including 22 through the Scholarship Endowment Bridge Program, in which the Boise State University Foundation matches gift commitments to endowed scholarships, allowing the university to begin awarding funds from new scholarships immediately. In total, donors have established 1,081 new scholarship funds since the start of the campaign.
In addition, donors established five new endowed faculty positions in fiscal year 2024 through the university’s Faculty Endowment Matching Program, with giving totaling $6.7 million. The Faculty Endowment Matching Program leverages a strategic investment by the university to double a donor’s gift to endowed faculty positions, empowering Boise State to recruit and retain the best and brightest faculty. Donors have established 10 endowed chairs, professorships and directorships since the start of Unbridled, bringing the total number of these endowed faculty positions to 16.
Boise State Athletics has taken a leading role in supporting the whole student-athlete and fan experience through the What’s Next initiative, which promotes investment in the North End Zone Project, lighting at Boise State’s home soccer, softball and volleyball facilities, and LED sports lighting system on The Blue. An additional $30 million has been raised since 2020 through the Lyle Smith Society, Boise State’s leadership giving society supporting Athletics.
To date, Boise State has raised $346.9 million through the Unbridled campaign, including $81.4 million in student support, with nearly $60 million of this for endowed scholarships; $37.0 million for faculty and research support; and $130.8 million for Athletics’ What’s Next initiative.
“Boise State prides itself on the Unbridled spirit of its community. The ambitious goals of the Unbridled campaign have resonated with our alumni and donors, and many have embraced the matching programs for endowed scholarships and faculty positions to amplify the transformational impact of their gifts. I am immensely grateful for our proud and loyal alumni and friends who made this possible,” said Matthew Ewing, CEO of the Boise State University Foundation.
Alumni and student engagement have fueled support for the Unbridled campaign. The Student Philanthropy Board grant program awarded $25,000 to student organizations in the 2023-24 academic year, and was recently recognized by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) with a Circle of Excellence Award for student-led fundraising initiatives. In February, Bronco Giving Day, a 36-hour, community-wide giving campaign, raised $643,215. Alumni and recent graduate programs, including Broncos of the Last Decade (BOLD), support a campus-wide alumni engagement strategy designed to engage all proud and loyal alumni and friends of Boise State for mutual benefit.
Leadership commitments — individual gifts of at least $500,000 — totaling nearly $27 million contributed significantly to Boise State’s philanthropic success in the last fiscal year. These include gifts for faculty support like Marilyn Beck’s gift establishing the Dr. Tom and Marilyn Beck Endowed Professor in the Arts. Gifts establishing scholarships likewise advanced the priorities of Unbridled, like Royanne (’77) and Alan Minskoff’s gift to endow the Royanne and Alan Minskoff Honors College Scholarship; and Jim (’72) and Diane Crawford’s bequest intention endowed three university scholarships in accounting, marketing, and nursing.
The continued success of Unbridled is making an impact at Boise State, in Idaho, and beyond.
“I am thankful for the Boise State community for its generosity and broad participation in the Unbridled campaign,” said Jim Martin, executive chair of the Boise State University Foundation Board of Directors. “Through investments in scholarships, endowed faculty positions and Bronco athletics, this university is ready to take the next step, and the support of our alumni and friends is a vote of confidence and a signal of our shared goals. Thank you.”