Butler University unveils $325M fundraising campaign, largest in school history

Butler University on Friday announced a new, multimillion-dollar capital campaign and organizational strategy that the Indianapolis school said will transform its campus and broaden its reach locally and beyond.

The "Boldly Butler" campaign, which seeks to raise $325 million over the next five years, is the largest such effort in the school's history, officials said.

The school noted that it has just welcomed its third-largest incoming class, launched a new nursing program and opened the new, two-year Founder’s College. Butler said it is building off record fundraising last year, with the new campaign running through May 31, 2030.

In launching its campaign, however, Butler also acknowledged that the fundraising effort comes as higher education faces challenges including growing distrust in institutions, a complex political landscape, declining enrollment and rising tuition cost.

Undergraduate tuition for a full-time Butler student is $24,450 a semester for the 2025-26 school year, a 5% increase from the previous year.

Only about 52% of Indiana students who graduated from high school the previous academic year enrolled in higher education, according to 2023 data from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education released this year. That’s down from more than 61% in 2018.

As for male students, the recent data showed just 45% of Indiana's male 2023 graduates enrolled in some form of training or education after high school, compared with 58% of females.

What’s more, just 8% of those college-bound high school graduates in the state enroll in Indiana’s private colleges like Butler.

“Our strategy for Boldly Butler builds upon an unprecedented decade of innovation,” Butler President James Danko said in a written statement. “In these times of dramatic change and turbulence in higher education, Butler must fully leverage its established position to set the standard in delivering experiences and outcomes of the highest quality for all learners, serving as a catalyst for community and workforce development, and equipping our students to lead lives of meaning locally, nationally and globally.”

Butler said its new strategy will focus on three areas: creating transformational learning experiences for students, building a dynamic campus that enriches the community and economy of central Indiana and creating a thriving institution recognized nationally and globally.

The campaign also includes a goal to increase scholarships for students by $50 million.

The school has already raised $134 million, more than 40% of the total fundraising goal, during the campaign’s quiet phase, which began in June 2022 and includes five disclosed multimillion-dollar gifts:

$22.5 million from the Lilly Endowment through the statewide initiative College and Community Collaboration.

$12 million from Butler Trustee Rebecca Graham Paul to support excellence in women’s athletics and establish the Rebecca Graham Paul Athletics Leadership Academy.

$9 million grant form the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation to support renovation and expansion of Clowes Memorial Hall.

$4.4 million anonymous gift to establish an endowed professorship and scholarship in memory of College of Communications faculty William Ney and an endowed scholarship in memory of College of Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty Ed Shaughnessy.

$2.5 million from Indianapolis philanthropist and Butler grad Marianne Glick and her spouse, Mike Woods, to support the Butler Founder’s College.