Rider University has announced Transforming Students – Transforming Lives: The Campaign for Rider University, a comprehensive fundraising effort with a goal of $80 million. It is the largest fundraising campaign in the University’s 157-year history.
President Gregory G. Dell‘Omo, Ph.D., told alumni and friends gathered for the announcement on Oct. 29 during Homecoming Weekend that they were key to the campaign’s success. “This bold undertaking will indeed provide us with resources to continue to transform the lives of our students. I couldn’t be happier to be celebrating this news with all of you who, like us, believe in Rider.”
The campaign seeks to increase scholarship support, build Rider’s endowment, update campus facilities and fuel student success by strengthening the Annual Fund.
The University has quietly raised more than $76 million toward its overall goal with 37 new endowed scholarships created since the campaign began in 2018. To date the campaign has brought in 16 gifts of $1 million or more, including more than $20 million from the Board of Trustees.
Also, more than 14,000 donors have supported Transforming Students – Transforming Lives, including close to 5,500 first-time donors. The Campaign is led by three alumni: Trustee and Campaign Chair Thomas Lynch ’75, and Campaign Vice Chairs Trustee Joan Mazzotti ’72 and William Rue ’69
During the quiet phase, Rider received its largest gifts so far for scholarships, business, science, technology and athletics including a $10 million gift from Norm ’64 and Elaine Brodsky which led to the naming of the Norm Brodsky College of Business in 2019.
The University also received its largest gift for the sciences, $4 million, from Mike Hennessy ’82. Hennessy made the gift in honor of his late wife, Patti Hennessy ’82, before he passed away in 2021. Rider also received its largest gift for athletics from Wayne Canastra ’72 and University Trustee Jill Hammer Canastra ’72. The couple gave $4.5 million to back the University’s campaign to elevate Alumni Gym into a modern NCAA Division I arena.
Established more than a century and a half ago, the University has progressed from a single classroom in Trenton to a comprehensive, coeducational university on 280 acres in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Today, Rider continues to evolve through new academic programs, innovative partnerships and an enhanced living and learning environment.
For more information about Transforming Students – Transforming Lives, visit rider.edu/transform.
