You Are Helping MIT Make a Better World
Watch a thank you to the MIT community from L. Rafael Reif, MIT President 2012-2022.
You Are Helping MIT Make a Better World
Watch a thank you to the MIT community from L. Rafael Reif, MIT President 2012-2022.
The MIT Campaign for a Better World raised $6.24B to help the people of MIT tackle humanity’s urgent global challenges.
Strength in numbers: 112,703 donors contributed to the Campaign.
Strength in numbers: 112,703 donors contributed to the Campaign.
83% of all alumni engaged with MIT during the Campaign.
Thank You, from MIT's Leadership
Loading...The MIT Campaign for a Better World—As It Happened
A glimpse at some of the MIT milestones, achievements, and new endeavors during the public phase of the Campaign, which launched in May 2016. The Campaign formally ran from July 2011 to June 2021. In early 2019, MIT increased the original $5 billion fundraising goal to $6 billion.
From Ideas to Inventions: 103 Ways MIT is Making a Better World
5.06.16
MIT Publicly Launches $5B Campaign for a Better World
5.31.16
Bennett W. Golub Center for Finance and Policy
The center, which brings together leading minds from economics, political science, and engineering, gets a boost and a new name.
9.12.16
Samuel Tak Lee Building
Building 9, home to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and the Center for Real Estate, reopens after renovations.
10.07.16
The Simons Building
Building 2—home to MIT’s Department of Mathematics—is dedicated after an extensive restoration.
2.09.17
Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research
The McGovern Institute for Brain Research announces a center to support research on the genetic, biological, and neural bases of autism spectrum disorder.
5.02.17
MIT Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab
MIT launches a globally focused effort to help revolutionize the effectiveness and reach of education.
5.17.17
A Global Strategy for MIT
MIT outlines a framework for the Institute’s international activities in education, research, innovation, and service.
9.05.17
MIT’s First Facility Dedicated to the Performing Arts
A new purpose-built home opens on Vassar Street for MIT’s Theater Arts program.
9.07.17
MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab
IBM and MIT join forces to carry out fundamental AI research and propel scientific breakthroughs that unlock AI’s potential.
9.24.17
Building 31
Renovation transforms a 90-year-old space into a home for research in autonomous vehicles, turbomachinery, energy storage, and transportation.
2.01.18
MIT Quest for Intelligence
MIT launches an effort to discover the foundations of human intelligence and drive the development of technologies to benefit society.
2.27.18
Task Force on the Work of the Future
MIT launches an Institute-wide initiative to understand how emerging technologies are changing the nature of human work and the skills required.
9.17.18
Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health
MIT announces an endeavor to develop machine-learning technologies that will revolutionize disease prevention, detection, and treatment.
10.04.18
MIT.nano
MIT.nano, a facility to make, measure, and image materials at the nanoscale, opens its doors at the center of campus.
10.15.18
MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing
A major commitment to address the global opportunities and challenges presented by computing and AI ushers in a new era for the Institute.
10.23.18
New MIT Museum
The MIT Museum breaks ground in preparation to take up residence in the eye of Kendall Square’s innovation district.
1.02.19
MIT Increases Goal for Campaign for a Better World to $6B
1.15.19
Teaching at the Right Level Africa
Teaching program led jointly by MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and the Indian nongovernmental organization Pratham significantly scales up its efforts.
2.27.19
MathWorks Fellowships
Mathematical computing software company MathWorks, cofounded by Jack Little ’78, creates 100 graduate fellowships in the School of Engineering and the School of Science.
3.20.19
Alana Down Syndrome Center
MIT establishes a center to engage scientists and engineers in an effort to increase understanding of the biology and neuroscience of Down syndrome.
11.14.19
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), which supports thousands of projects each year, celebrates a major milestone.
6.18.20
MIT-Takeda Program
MIT and Takeda Pharmaceuticals announce a joint effort to fuel the development and application of AI capabilities to benefit human health and drug development.
7.23.20
Climate Grand Challenges
The Institute calls on its community to tackle the most challenging research problems associated with climate change.
7.29.20
King Climate Action Initiative
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab launches an initiative to solve problems at the nexus of climate change and global poverty alleviation.
7.29.20
K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics in Neuroscience
The McGovern Institute for Brain Research launches a major new research effort to change how we treat brain disorders.
10.26.20
MIT and Accenture Convergence Initiative for Industry and Technology
MIT and Accenture team up to further advance learning and research through new business convergence insights in technology and innovation.
11.01.20
Graduate Residence in Kendall Square
New graduate residence opens in Kendall Square, providing 454 housing units for single graduate students and families with children.
11.02.20
MIT InnovationHQ
MIT InnovationHQ (iHQ) opens in Kendall Square, encompassing more than 25,000 square feet of space for innovation and entrepreneurship activities.
1.28.21
MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium
An alliance of leaders from a range of industries joins MIT to vastly accelerate large-scale, real-world implementation of solutions to address the threat of climate change.
2.13.21
New Vassar Residence Hall
A new 450-bed undergraduate community, developed through a collaborative process, opens on campus.
3.21.21
Strategic Action Plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
MIT shares a first draft of its strategic plan to deliver a set of actions to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
5.21.21
Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade
A new action plan is unveiled to tackle the climate crisis, charting a course to marshal MIT’s capabilities toward decarbonization.
6.01.21
Music Building
MIT breaks ground on a new state-of-the-art music facility adjacent to Kresge Auditorium.
6.29.21
Schimmel Family Program for Life Sciences
MIT announces a life sciences program that will support the Department of Biology’s Graduate Training Initiative and graduate students across MIT.
The quest to make a better world continues ...
26
capital projects during
the Campaign
$602M
raised for capital needs
1.7M gross ft²
of renovations
Supporting an Unusual
Concentration of
Unusual
Talent
Scholarships
Scholarships—the foundation of MIT’s commitment to need-blind undergraduate admission—are a vital component of the Institute’s ability to provide a full range of support for students who have earned their place at MIT. Each financial promise to an outstanding undergraduate made during the Campaign for a Better World introduces a new voice into the MIT community of problem solvers and change makers, simultaneously enriching the life of the recipient and the campus.
Read more
raised for undergraduate financial aid
“MIT isn’t just about the smarts. It’s about passion, collaboration, and support. I’ve been empowered with the resources and perspective to start small but think big.”
Hung Huynh ’24
Course 2-A Engineering; Drs. Francesco and Marybeth Pompei Scholar
Read more
“I started out trying to grow plants in space. Now I’m looking at plants from space. Behind the pixels are the people. And the people are those I want to help.”
Sheila Baber ’21
Course 12 Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; Course 8 Physics; Natalie Lorenz-Anderson (1984) Scholar
Read more
Fellowships
Brilliant graduate students are essential to the Institute’s research enterprise. Fellowships funded during the Campaign give MIT the capacity to retain its competitive edge in attracting the most talented, inventive, and diverse graduate students from around the world, offering remarkable young minds the confidence and freedom to chase big ideas in pursuit of a better world.
Read more
raised during the Campaign to fund graduate student support
“Because of MIT, I’ve become aware of potential solutions that I never knew existed, and I believe in my ability to solve problems.”
R’mani Haulcy SM ’19
PhD Student, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; MathWorks Fellow
Read more
“MIT encouraged me to focus my campaign [to assist frontline health care workers in rural India] where it would have the most impact.”
Shivang Tayal MBA ’22
MBA Student, MIT Sloan School of Management; Ivy Head Family Fellow
Read more
Professorships
The MIT faculty is a thousand-strong community of researchers, inventors, and doers from every field of inquiry. They are relentlessly expanding the limits of human knowledge and bringing their expertise to bear on the global challenges of today and tomorrow. Professorships created during the Campaign empower distinguished faculty and tap the full potential of rising stars.
Read more
raised during the Campaign to fund professorships
“I appreciate that the MIT approach is to make a real-world impact. We work together to tackle technical policies and societal issues around the world, not just in the lab, but within the cities with local stakeholders.”
Siqi Zheng
Samuel Tak Lee Champion Professor of Urban and Real Estate Sustainability
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“Economics is an intellectually integrated department—everyone is engaged with what’s happening in all the groups. Because of MIT, I’ve rethought graduate education and how it works.”
Stephen Morris
Peter A. Diamond Professor in Economics
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Student Life
Wellbeing initiatives. Sports. Diversity and inclusion programs. Leadership opportunities. The arts. Experiential endeavors. First-year innovation. Spaces for living, learning, and making. Broad support in the Campaign for all aspects of the vibrant tapestry of student life ensures the Institute can continue to foster an environment where both academic excellence and personal wellbeing are valued and promoted.
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raised during the Campaign for student life
Against the backdrop of a new comprehensive, Institute-wide strategic action plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion, a vast array of people, programs, and initiatives across the Institute are helping MIT continue to remove barriers to equity, opportunity, and belonging and shape an environment in which all people can fulfill their potential.
Read more
Unrestricted Giving
During the Campaign, thousands of alumni and friends signaled their confidence in MIT by giving unrestricted funds—critical resources that can be directed where they are most needed. Such gifts helped MIT rapidly respond to the daunting challenges of Covid-19, stand firm in its longstanding commitment to undergraduate financial aid, and advance an environment of academic excellence and bold innovation.
Read more
increase in unrestricted giving during the Campaign compared to the previous decade
Connecting for a Better World
Read more“In this Campaign, our alumni community gathered together around their innate, MIT-honed innovative and problem-solving nature. Suddenly, their connection to MIT was given reinvigorated purpose: working together to make a better world.”
Whitney T. Espich
Chief Executive Officer, MIT Alumni Association
83%
of all alumni engaged with MIT during the Campaign
27K+
alumni made an infinite impact by volunteering, serving on boards, participating in regional clubs, and more
11,650+
alumni and friends attended Campaign events