There are no gimmicks here.

Just as you won’t find fancy food courts or Olympic sized swimming pools (or any swimming pools) at St. John’s College, you won’t find them in the Freeing Minds campaign. This isn’t a campaign aimed at the big, the expensive, and the unnecessary.

This is, simply put, a campaign to secure the future of the most rigorous, most contrarian (and according to Education Dive, the most innovative) college in America. In doing so, we preserve and perpetuate the one thing that is necessary: access to a truly liberal arts education.

Freeing Minds campaign | Total Goal: $300 million

• St. John’s Endowment | Priority Goal: $200 million
  St. John’s endowment is the centerpiece of our new philanthropy-driven financial model. By providing a steady, dependable, and, most importantly, enduring stream of revenue, the endowment reduces our dependence on tuition and eases the burden carried by students and their families. When it comes to ensuring our future, it doesn’t get more important than this.
• Financial Stability | Priority Goal: $50 million
  While our endowment is the mainstay of our future, the college still needs a firm financial base from which to operate in the present. Scholarships, internships, student success services, and, of course, books: these are ongoing needs that require a ready source of support. The answer lies with the growth of our Annual Fund, particularly the Fund for St. John’s.
• Campus Improvements | Priority Goal: $50 million
  Unlike many of our peers in higher education, we aren’t participating in the arms race to build larger and more expensive facilities. Instead, the campaign will focus on essential improvements, which have significant implications for the safety of our campus and the quality of the residential experience for students.