{"id":1754,"date":"2013-08-29T13:20:19","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T17:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2013\/08\/29\/campaign-launches-final-push\/"},"modified":"2022-11-07T19:38:37","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T00:38:37","slug":"campaign-launches-final-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/campaign-launches-final-push\/","title":{"rendered":"Campaign launches final push"},"content":{"rendered":"

AS CHAIR<\/b> of the Furman board of trustees in October of 2007, Carl Kohrt stood at the podium in Timmons Arena and helped launch the largest fundraising drive in the university\u2019s history: the $400 million Because Furman Matters<\/a> capital campaign.<\/p>\n

Today, almost six years later, Kohrt is at the forefront of the campaign again \u2014 only now he is interim president of Furman, a position he assumed July 1 after Rod Smolla\u2019s resignation. And just as he was there for the campaign\u2019s beginning, Korht is looking forward to bringing it to its December 31 conclusion.<\/p>\n

To date, Furman has raised $390 million toward its $400 million goal. As the campaign enters its final months, Kohrt says he is confident that alumni, parents and friends will step forward to help the university reach its completion.<\/p>\n

When he talks of the campaign and its current and potential impact on Furman, Kohrt, a 1965 Furman graduate, invokes a quote from the poem \u201cThe Bridge Builder,\u201d by Will Allen Dromgoole. The poem tells the \u201cpay it forward\u201d story of an old man on a voyage. Kohrt says, \u201cIt represents a moment in my family\u2019s life when we chose to be philanthropic in a larger way, and it suits the way we all should feel about why this campaign matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bridge Builder\u201d follows the old man along a journey that takes him to the edge of a treacherous abyss. Once he makes it safely to the other side, he stops to build a bridge. An observer of the old man\u2019s efforts questions his actions and motivations, to which the old man replies:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cGood friend, in the path I have come,\u201d he said,
\n\u201cThere followed after me to-day
\nA youth whose feet must pass this way.
\nThis chasm that has been as naught to me
\nTo that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
\nHe, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
\nGood friend, I am building this bridge for him!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kohrt says, \u201cThe many donors who have given generously to this campaign are helping to build a bridge, similar to the one Dromgoole describes, for those who have yet to come to Furman. But we are not yet across. Because Furman Matters is ultimately about our students. They are the beneficiaries, and they are worthy of our investment. We are building the bridge for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years the campaign\u2019s final phase has focused on four primary areas. The university has worked to strengthen support for and access to the Furman experience through such efforts as the Furman Standard (faculty development), Furman United (financial aid for students with unexpected economic need) and enhancements to international and study away programs. Furman\u2019s efforts to renew its athletics programs have led to increased scholarship support for varsity and club sports, plus major improvements to facilities for baseball, softball, golf, soccer and football.<\/p>\n

The $7.75 million expansion and renovation of the Trone Student Center and the recent gift from John and Jeanette Cothran toward the Center for Vocational Reflection have been key elements in Furman\u2019s determination to transform the living and learning experience for students. The university has also worked to expand its ties and outreach to the community and region through campaign initiatives that support the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability, the Herring Center for Continuing Education and the Richard W. Riley Institute.<\/p>\n

Kohrt, who served on the board of the trustees throughout much of the last six years, says he is pleased with the campaign\u2019s progress despite the somewhat faltering economy. \u201cThis hasn\u2019t been the easiest of times for anyone to share their wealth, but our donors have stayed with us,\u201d he says, attributing their loyalty to their belief in \u201cliberal arts the way Furman does it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the campaign heads toward completion, he says, \u201cWhat we need most are funds to build the endowment that supports our programs for students and professors. Adding about $20 million to Furman\u2019s endowment would be an incredible capstone.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when he thinks about the iconic image of the Bell Tower with Paris Mountain in the background \u2014 the image that adorned the original campaign marketing materials and served as inspiration through the last six years \u2014 Kohrt says it is representative of the heights to which Furman aspires. As he says, \u201cIf you don\u2019t stretch, you will fall short. And we want to continue to stretch \u2014 and to rise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AS CHAIR of the Furman board of trustees in October of 2007, Carl Kohrt stood at the podium in Timmons Arena and helped launch the largest fundraising drive in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donor-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}