First Promise Challenge Crosses the Finish Line
By Bowdoin NewsAnswering the First Promise Challenge, fifty donors generously stepped up with gifts of $100,000, unlocking an additional $5 million dollar match for a total of $10 million raised for financial aid endowment, comprehensive aid, and internships at Bowdoin.
- Forty-three of these gifts support a scholarship fund, five an internship fund, and two a comprehensive aid fund.
- Ten of the fifty were repeat donors, benefiting from a $100,000 match in October 2021 and again in 2024.
- Thirty-nine alumni, seven parents, two widows of alumni, and two other friends of the College made gifts.
The original $5 million First Promise Challenge launched in 2021 and resulted in fifty new endowed scholarship funds of $100,000 and fifty matches, a total of more than $10 million in new financial aid endowment. In November 2023, a group of trustees created this second challenge pool of $5 million.
The program, which had initially included financial aid, comprehensive aid, and current-use internships, was expanded to include gifts to new and existing endowed internship funds.
Funded internships provide a critical form of financial assistance to Bowdoin students. The From Here Campaign has generated $18 million in new endowed funds for internships and increased to 175 the number of internships that Bowdoin can fund on an annual basis. The overall campaign total is more than $536,080,000 as of press date and will conclude on June 30, 2024.