The University of Alabama launched its $1.5 billion Rising Tide Capital Campaign on Friday, Sept. 10 with a kickoff event on the Quad. 

Rising Tide is the largest fundraising campaign in state history. Planning for the campaign began in 2015, and the first gifts were made the following year. Since then, the University has raised about 63% of the $1.5 billion goal. 

“We are thrilled by what has been accomplished to date and look forward to seeing the direct impact of campaign donations on our students, research efforts, faculty endeavors, local and statewide economies and much more,” UA President Stuart Bell said. 

The first part of the campaign aims to add 1,000 scholarships and 75 new faculty endowments, and to improve more than 500,000 square feet of space on campus.

The Crimson Standard component of the campaign has a $600 million fundraising goal for UA Athletics and launched its public fundraising campaign in 2018. 

Future plans include an updated Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility, a medical treatment center and a sports science center. The Crimson Standard will reshape Coleman Coliseum as well with a renovated lobby, new seating sections, lounges and balconies. 

Bryant-Denny Stadium is slated for upgrades, including recruitment facilities, a student section in the upper bowl, a new scoreboard, new club seating and a Founders Suite and Lounge. 

“Anyone who has traveled to campus recently has to be impressed by the quality of the students, the faculty and the grounds,” said Mike Mouron, Rising Tide Capital Campaign co-chairman. “It’s our responsibility to continue the momentum. You either move forward or you’re moving backward.”

Seventeen colleges and other units at UA have individual fundraising goals on the Rising Tide website. Fundraising goals vary from $4 million for the College of Continuing Studies to $200 million for the Culverhouse College of Business. 

The Culverhouse College of Business highlights its Institute of Data and Analytics and an outreach program for “data-driven” high school students, Culverhouse Dean Kay Palan said. 

The UA Honors College, which has the second lowest fundraising goal of $8 million, lists the renaming of the Honors College as a fundraising highlight. 

Now, five years into the 10-year campaign, only four of the 14 units with fundraising goals are less than halfway to those goals. The University Libraries and the College of Communication and Information Sciences have already met their fundraising goals. 

“Well, it’s taken a lot of effort,” UA Vice President for Advancement Bob Pierce said. “There’s no doubt about that, but that $940 million has come in over the past five years, and it’s been possible because of incredibly dedicated alumni and donors to the institution.”