Gifts to any campaign are typically restricted to endowment for specific purposes or used for capital construction, which are indeed enabling a great many advancements at SMU. While SMU has had a successful major gifts campaign and continues to maintain a balanced operating budget, cost growth has exceeded revenue growth for the University over the past few years, increasing our reliance on reserves to balance the budget. Additionally, to become a top-50 university, a larger portion of our spending needs to be directed toward academic initiatives. This project is intended to help control administrative cost growth, redirect spending toward academic uses and improve SMU’s academic standing and student experience.
In addition, to continue donor interest and support, SMU must show that it is a wise and judicious steward of the support it receives. The resulting confidence in SMU will lead to future investment by donors in the University’s priorities.
