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With great pleasure, I present the East Stroudsburg University Foundation’s 2019-2020 Annual Report and Honor Roll of Donors. Your kindness resulted in yet another benchmark year for the Foundation and our effectiveness can only be attributed to your generosity. In total, the Foundation secured $6,634,649 in gifts and pledges, directly impacting the quality education and university experience our students deserve.
This is such welcome news given the last quarter of the year. We all experienced changes in our lifestyle as the COVID-19 pandemic tightened its grips on the country. Our family and work lives were altered dramatically and we had to quickly find ways to adapt to a changing world while still providing ESU students with the resources to pursue their education. Most importantly, this had to be done while keeping donors, students and staff out of harm’s way. Like you, our homes became refuge while we worked together and discovered new and dynamic ways to engage, connect and steward alumni and friends of the university.
As a result of the pandemic and an immediate shift to online learning in March 2020, many ESU students found themselves without the financial resources to complete the spring semester. In a matter of days, students faced housing insecurity, transportation issues and needs for improved technology. You answered the call for help through the Student Emergency Response Fund, providing $66,717 in support and equipment and helping more than 161 students.
It is times such as this when we learn how selfless, understanding and committed our community is. Throughout 2019-2020, you also took extraordinary measures in bolstering our student scholarship program. The result was remarkable and the Foundation provided $1,017,436 in scholarship support, a 7.9 percent increase from the previous year. Take a look at page 12 where our Scholarship Report reflects a decade of steady growth in fundraising and the total in annual and endowed scholarship dollars made available to students.
As a result of your gifts, the Foundation has also been able to take strides in the following campaigns and projects: The $2.5 million Soccer Stadium project launched with $79,500 in cash, written and verbal agreements in place by the end of 2019-2020. The facility will be built adjacent to Eiler-Martin Stadium.
The Locker Legacy Campaign has raised a combined $12,000 for ESU’s field hockey, men’s basketball and lacrosse programs with the fundraising efforts being continued into this year
Also continuing into 2020-2021, the Wrestling Scholarship Campaign will build on the $174,875 already raised to ensure the men’s and women’s program can recruit and sustain its momentum for years to come.
ESU’s future Esports Lab will benefit from the $188,181 committed thus far, allowing for eventual construction of the laboratory and equipment purchase needed for the game-based learning environment reflective of the STEM principles.
Throughout this report, you will find student stories that we hope convey the need for your support and the impact your generosity has had on their lives. You will also discover donors who inspire others by giving back to their alma mater and shine a bright light on the power of philanthropy.
As the Foundation looks back at our accomplishments of 2019-2020, we realize we could not have done it without you. In times of uncertainty and confusion, when health and wellbeing become the doctrine of our daily lives, you continue to make an effort to give back and for that we thank you.
I appreciate all of you and send you wishes for good health and prosperity in the year to come.