With pride and gratitude, the American University Board of Trustees voted on September 5, 2024, to officially close Change Can’t Wait: The Campaign for American University. The campaign, surpassing the ambitious goal we set more than seven years ago, raised more than $507 million to transform our community and build AU’s bright future.

This achievement was truly community-won. Nearly 24,000 alumni in all 50 states and 81 countries answered Change Can’t Wait’s bold call to act. They were joined by 9,000 faculty and staff, and 12,000 students and families, completing the most comprehensive fundraising effort in AU’s history and creating change across campus and around the world.  

Change Can’t Wait redefined what is possible for the Eagle community. As a direct result of donor and volunteer support, the campaign has changed the way AU advances its mission in three key areas:  

• How our students thrive. AU created or expanded 180 scholarships to help remove financial barriers, and students can now access more than 200 experiential learning opportunities with greater funding and resources. In addition, $34 million was raised for capital projects that enhance the student experience, including the Student Thriving Complex’s Meltzer Center for Athletic Performance and the renovated Mary Graydon Center.
• How we advance discovery. At a time when AU’s research is addressing society’s complex challenges in innovative ways, the campaign created nine new endowed faculty positions spanning finance to neuroscience to peace studies to attract and retain prominent scholar-teachers. Four dedicated centers and institutes have bridged disciplines to convene and empower practitioners, thought leaders, and students.
• How we connect. Change Can’t Wait campaign gifts expanded the scale of AU’s reach in our DC home and beyond. Unrestricted giving has increased nearly threefold, and $120 million has been added to the endowment. Heightened university distinction has strengthened AU’s civic, environmental, and creative legacies.

As the scope of Change Can’t Wait continues to be realized in new and exciting ways, I invite you to visit the Change Can’t Wait impact site to further explore key accomplishments unique to our schools and units across the university. I hope you will join us on campus on September 28 at the Change Can’t Wait Festival to celebrate what our community has accomplished together.

I want to extend a special thanks to the members of the Campaign Committee—including AU's 15th President Sylvia M. Burwell, former Vice President of University Advancement Courtney L. Surls, and co-chairs, Alan Meltzer, CAS/BA ’21, Peter Scher, SPA/BA ’83, WCL/JD ’87, and Jeff Sine, SIS/BA ’76—for their dedicated leadership and philanthropy in service of Change Can’t Wait and AU.  

On behalf of the trustees, I share our deepest thanks to the entire American University community who made this once unthinkable feat possible: students, alumni, faculty, staff, families, and friends. Every person who supported and engaged with the campaign made a difference in its success.