Change Can’t Wait: The Campaign for American University called upon the Eagle community to expand our capacity to create change and fuel our shared purpose. Nearly 24,000 alumni, 12,000 students and families, and 9,000 faculty and staff answered with their generosity, rallying behind the largest fundraising effort in AU’s 131-year history. With more than $507 million raised, the Board of Trustees voted to officially close the campaign on September 5.
Together, we are changing the way students thrive.
Change Can’t Wait set out to elevate the student experience. Alumni and donors created or expanded more than 180 scholarships and increased support for equity-based initiatives fourfold, broadening access to ensure more students can enroll in and remain at AU.
Recognizing that an AU education encompasses more than just what happens in the classroom, the community of supporters also boosted resources for more than 200 experiential learning opportunities.
Planning and construction for the Student Thriving Complex launched during Change Can’t Wait were buoyed by donor investments. Donors contributed more than $34 million for capital projects that enhance the student experience, including the complex’s Alan and Amy Meltzer Center for Athletic Performance and renovations to the Mary Graydon Center.
These changemaking investments are making a real-time impact, says Maryjane Williams, Kogod-SOC/BA ’24—recipient of the Jonah and Sallie Gitlitz Endowed Scholarship, established in 2023. “The support from this scholarship has transformed my journey at AU, lifting the heavy burden of financial stress and allowing me to focus wholeheartedly on my education and future career,” Williams says.
Together, we are changing the way we advance discovery.
Philanthropic support is critical to expanding the impact and reach of our faculty’s work, from peace studies and health policy and sustainability to cybersecurity and international finance. Donors contributed more than $128 million during Change Can’t Wait to support faculty and research and elevate AU’s profile across Washington and around the world.
AU faculty are the vanguard of innovation, and over the course of the campaign, the university established nine new endowed faculty positions—including four eminent scholar chairs. These positions are advancing key areas of distinction such as sustainability, health policy, and international finance.
“An investment in faculty positions is an investment in groundbreaking, impactful scholarship and teaching,” says Valentina Bruno, the Arlene R. and Robert P. Kogod Eminent Scholar in Finance in the Kogod School of Business. “This position allows me to take on new challenges, which will help reshape business education and academic research. I am honored to be part of a group of inspiring faculty changemakers.”
Gifts to the campaign also led to the creation or naming of four centers and institutes: the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics; the Meltzer Schwartzberg Center for Israel Studies; the Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship; and the Shahal M. Khan Cyber and Economic Security Institute. Through the visionary support of donors, these centers and institutes are part of AU’s strategic approach to removing traditional disciplinary silos and highlighting the university’s role in addressing the world’s most challenging issues.
Together, we are changing the way we connect.
From the start, Change Can’t Wait was more than a fundraising effort—it was a call to action for the entire AU community to make an impact. Over the past seven years, unrestricted support—gifts the university can devote to the areas of greatest need and strongest alignment to strategic priorities—has grown by 274 percent. Additionally, donor commitments will add $120 million to the endowment, securing AU’s future and positioning the university for continued distinction among higher education institutions.
Change Can’t Wait also strengthened AU’s connections across the Washington, DC, region.
AU became home to the Corcoran Legacy Collection of almost 9,000 works of art valued at over $30 million from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, as well as Sudama, Elyn Zimmerman’s monumental sculptural installation behind the Kay Spiritual Life Center. In a region full of preeminent museums, art, and artists, these additions cemented the AU Museum’s cultural significance by transforming its capacity to present compelling exhibitions highlighting regional, national, and international works and raising its profile as a steward, storyteller, and educator.
Listener support for AU’s NPR affiliate, WAMU 88.5, continued to power the radio station’s decades-long tradition of fostering dialogue and presenting award-winning journalism to a national audience.
Finally, the gift of the Airlie Center in Warrenton, Virginia—an agricultural and hospitality property with a rich tradition of convening world leaders to address central issues of their time, free from distraction—is already advancing AU’s academic and sustainability initiatives and aims to become a hub for important civic discourse.
Change Can’t Wait redefined what is possible for American University. Fueled by the campaign’s community-generated momentum, we now embark on a new era, leading with purpose, talent, and resources like never before.
Seizing Momentum to Help Students Thrive
Students are the heartbeat of American University.
Campaign donors propelled student opportunities by supporting a record number of new and expanded scholarships. Thanks to the generosity of the AU community, more than 600 students can benefit from donor-funded support annually.
The university’s commitment to student thriving does not stop with the close of Change Can’t Wait. AU is more empowered than ever to advance the student experience.
Scholarships are transformative. For prospective Eagles, a scholarship can mean the difference in choosing AU over a less expensive school that isn’t as good a fit. Scholarships also alleviate financial worries for students. They lessen the burden of taking on multiple jobs, allow students to focus on their studies, and enable Eagles to partake in the full scope of an AU education, including campus clubs and activities, research opportunities and conferences, study abroad, and internships.
When a change in his family’s finances nearly derailed Lucas Torregrossa’s promising path to a career in public relations, the Charles Kligman Central High School Alumni Endowed Scholarship allowed him to stay the course and take on new experiences, including studying abroad in Denmark. “The scholarship let me stay right here—exactly where I want to be,” Torregrossa, SOC/BA ’25, says.
In the coming year, AU will build on the momentum set by the campaign, focusing strategic efforts to broaden scholarship offerings. The student experience will remain a top priority—because change still can’t wait.
Your Impact
Alumni from all 50 states and 81 countries rallied behind Change Can’t Wait with pride and purpose. Harnessing this energy into a new era, you can further foster change with a gift of any amount to the AU Fund for Excellence at giving.american.edu. Your support will be applied where it is needed most—changing the way our students thrive, the way we advance discovery, and the way we connect.