Here For Good
The University of West Florida announced on Friday that it was increasing its goal for its Here For Good capital campaign from $90 million to $100 million. In the spring, the UWF campaign webpage featured a graph showing that UWF had reached 90% of its goal—about $81 million. We were also told UWF had commitments that would be announced later in 2025 that would reach or top $100 million.
History Lesson
The Here For Good campaign was launched in April 2024, with the announcement of a new football stadium coming to campus.
Darrell and Debbie Gooden made a gift in excess of $9 million to break ground on the Darrell Gooden Stadium. The transformative gift was the largest by a living donor in UWF history. Darrell Gooden studied accounting at UWF and attributed a significant portion of his professional success to his college education.
The gift from the Goodens helped the university raise $65 million during the silent phase of the campaign, easily surpassing the initial goal of $55 million. Saunders announced that the fundraising goal would be $90 million, the largest campaign in the university’s nearly 60-year history.
UWF President Martha Saunders announced the campaign and the gift from the Goodens during a gala in the UWF Fieldhouse. Inspiring videos were played during the event, showcasing UWF’s growth since 1967 and promoting its future success.
- “Since 1967, we have been a pillar for our region as an institution focused on individual growth and community advancement,” Saunders said. “Now, more than 50 years later, we look forward to the future and focus on our commitment to impact our region and beyond. The Here for Good Campaign is a promise to extend the passion of our people and unleash the best of UWF. We’re telling our community and the world that UWF is here today and here to stay.”
The campaign’s focus areas included people, programs, place, and community. If the university met its fundraising goal, every undergraduate student would have access to a scholarship. In addition, UWF would bolster or create high-impact programs for students, with the intent of continuing to earn national recognition for academic achievements, athletic accomplishments, and groundbreaking research.
Missing Dollars
UWF’s numbers in last Friday’s press release only listed $47.1 million – $15.7 million “for this past year” and $31.4 million for a “record-breaking year” in 2024. The UWF Here For Good webpage no longer has the graph, and the Oct. 10 announcement doesn’t state the total raised.
The capital campaign had raised $65 million by April 2024. Update: We have been notified by the university that the Here For Good Campaign actually began privately in 2018. The April 2024 figure include all the fund raised at the point, not just was collected in 2024.