About the Campaign
For more than 140 years, the Columbus College of Art & Design has provided students with a high-quality education and played a pivotal role in shaping Central Ohio’s creative economy. In 2019, CCAD began to consider a bold campaign to advance student success and support excellence in art and design.
Here for Change: a Campaign for The CCAD Way, the most significant campaign in CCAD’s history, was designed to:
- Increase scholarships.
- Fund faculty and student success.
- Build an innovative Center for Creative Collaboration to advance creative excellence for students and for the region.
Benefactor Group has been proud to counsel CCAD through every step of the campaign process: from a feasibility study, to navigating the complexities of fundraising during a pandemic, to a successful quiet phase, to a public phase that has rallied many to the cause.
Fast Facts About CCAD
- CCAD is ranked #3 among Midwest art schools, according to a 2023 survey from Animation Career Review.
- CCAD graduates are in demand. 81% of BFA graduates are employed or continuing their education one year post-graduation. 78% are employed in a field related to their career goals.
- 30% of students are the first in their families to attend college.
- CCAD is vital to the creative economy of Columbus, ranked #1 by Bank of America as the fastest growing city in the country in the second half of 2023.
Erika Gable, Associate Vice President for Development, commented on this longstanding relationship:
“What I appreciated about Benefactor Group was their diverse expertise. Their team has technology experts, communications specialists, strategists for major donor conversations, and more—and can bring all those skills to meet the many needs and opportunities that arise during a campaign.”
Over the past several years, Here for Change: a Campaign for The CCAD Way has achieved remarkable successes.
- On track to reach an ambitious fundraising goal. Today, CCAD has raised more than $18 million—and has developed a clear path to meet (or exceed!) its total goal of $20 million. These funds will be critical to attract and retain promising students, support student and faculty success, and fuel the region’s creative economy.
- Built a stronger campus-wide culture of philanthropy. Throughout the campaign, CCAD’s development team and leadership found opportunities to engage faculty and administrators: from the beginning of the feasibility study process to the creation of the college’s first endowed faculty positions and funds.
- Deepened board and volunteer engagement. CCAD’s development team has been deliberate in engaging the board and campaign steering committee as true partners in fundraising—calling upon each volunteer’s unique gifts of talent, testimony, and time.
- Developed innovative strategies to engage donors in uncertain times. Like many institutions, CCAD faced difficult decisions during the pandemic—which coincided with the earliest months of the college’s campaign. As Erika Gable, Associate Vice President for Development, reflected: “In the summer of 2020, there was great uncertainty. But our leadership had the foresight to say: this campaign is necessary to achieve long-term transformation, rather than simply continue as is. So, we innovated—we hosted conversations and events digitally, we connected with donors in non-traditional ways. We moved forward. And we’re so glad for this decision.” The university also used this early period of the campaign to invest in fundraising infrastructure, from rebuilding the development team to creating strong policies and procedures, that laid the groundwork for campaign success—and beyond.
- Launched an exciting public phase. In late 2023, having raised more than 85% of the total campaign goal, CCAD planned and implemented a bold, large-scale public launch event: one that covered multiple blocks of the campus and combined food trucks, drinks, music, interactive art installations, and special donor updates to create enthusiasm for the fundraising to come.
We congratulate Columbus College of Art & Design on their continued success and are grateful to have assisted in the journey! To learn more about the campaign, you can explore https://hereforchange.ccad.edu/.
