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Comprehensive Resource Campaign

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is "Taking the Next Step"?

"Taking the Next Step" is a $105 million comprehensive resource campaign, the largest in the history of Bethel University. The goal of the six-year campaign, from 2002 to 2008, is to expand facilities, strengthen the Annual Fund, and build Bethel’s endowment. These investments will directly improve the quality of a Bethel education for every current student, while also ensuring Bethel’s future.

Why launch a campaign of this scope?

Bethel College & Seminary had only 500 students in 1950, and today, 6,000 students are enrolled from every state and 36 countries. Bethel offers nearly 100 undergraduate, graduate, or seminary degrees through four schools and has seminary teaching locations on both coasts, in St. Paul, and through the internet. Bethel University has become a world-class Christian university and needs greater resources to match this remarkable transformation.

What are the campaign’s components?

Planned facilities improvements (totaling $55 million) include:

  • University Commons $30 million
  • Fitness center $9.5 million
  • Renovations to existing college buildings $2.7 million
  • Seminary St. Paul renovation $1.5 million
  • Seminary San Diego addition $5.3 million
  • Lissner Residence Hall (completed) $6 million

The campaign also seeks an additional $15 million for the Annual Fund; $10 million in designated program support; $10 million for Bethel’s endowment; and $15 million in planned gifts such as trusts and annuities.

What is University Commons?

University Commons will be Bethel's first student center—a "family room" important for building the mentoring and peer relationships so important in a Christian education. Extending off the Community Life Center toward the seminary, this 110,000-square-foot facility will restore the gathering spaces and student service capacity lost to classroom and office conversions over the years.

What is the practical function of a student center such as University Commons?

The new space solves congestion stemming from the fact that Bethel was originally designed for 1,000 residential college students and now serves 2,900. University Commons will be home to student services used every day such as a larger dining center, campus store, student organization offices, Office of Student Life, meeting rooms, and an informal venue for dialogue. Vacated space in the existing buildings will be freed for library expansion, classrooms, and additional offices.

What is the Fitness Center?

This project would finish the current Sports and Recreation Center to include lockers, fitness and weight training centers, classrooms, and offices for athletics staff. It would contribute to Bethel’s holistic education, and to its growing athletic program.

What do the seminary projects entail?

After steady growth, Bethel Seminary San Diego, originally built for 250 students in 1990, will be expanded to accommodate anticipated enrollment of 450. Added space will include larger classrooms, offices, a preaching lab, library expansion, instructional technology, student lounge, and 350-seat auditorium. In St. Paul, Bethel Seminary will convert an unused gymnasium into critically needed classroom and office space.

What role does the Annual Fund have in the campaign?

Buildings don’t matter if Bethel is not able to ensure quality in its programs or provide the resources faculty and students need. That’s the job of the Annual Fund. So a fundamental priority is to raise $15 million in total Annual Fund gifts and another $10 million for designated program support, then to sustain that level of giving into the future. The Annual Fund bridges the difference between tuition and actual operating costs, and supports financial aid, campus ministries, student services, campus maintenance, faculty development, and more.

Do gifts of all sizes make a difference in this campaign?

This campaign is possible only as thousands of alumni, parents, and friends claim responsibility for Bethel’s financial needs. When combined with many partners, even small gifts make a big difference. Also, a strong base of loyal support helps to inspire major capital gifts from other Bethel donors.

Why is a stronger endowment a campaign goal?

An endowment is like a savings account. It helps provide stability and finance new initiatives for Bethel University. Compared with other institutions of similar size and history, Bethel has one of the smallest endowment funds—$25 million—because Bethel’s unrestricted funds have been needed for campus development for the past 30 years. The endowment seeks to infuse $10 million into this important source of long-term support.

What are "planned gifts" and how do they contribute to campaign goals?

Planned gifts include trusts, annuities, IRA assets, pension plans, and insurance proceeds. These forms of giving can perpetuate a donor’s impact on Bethel through investment in the endowment. Some forms of planned gifts to Bethel provide income to a donor or donor’s family, and carry tax benefits.

Is a campaign goal of $105 million possible to meet?

Yes! This is a realistic goal. On October 5, the day the campaign was publicly launched, generous contributors had already given or pledged $67.3 million dollars. (The most visible sign of the campaign's progress is Lissner Hall, a residence that is now home to 288 sophomores.) The campaign steering committee is confident that the size and increased economic capacity of alumni and partners committed to Bethel’s mission is, for the first time, sufficient to achieve success in a campaign of this magnitude.

To contribute or learn more about "Taking the Next Step," contact the Bethel University Office of Development at 651.638.8050 or email development@bethel.edu.