Current and retired ISU faculty and staff have already donated more than $4.5 million to send a clear message to Iowa State alumni and friends that they fully support the efforts of Campaign Destiny: To Become the Best.

The goal of the University Community Campaign, titled “The Drive From Within,” is to raise $10 million in private support from all the current and retired staff of ISU. The Drive From Within is a portion of the overall goal of Campaign Destiny, an attempt to raise $300 million for ISU by the year 2000. Over 100 volunteers have joined the grass roots effort of the campaign.

The money will be used for faculty development as well as to increase the number of student scholarships, said Labh Hira, associate dean in the College of Business.

Hira and his wife Tahira, a professor in the human development and family studies department, are co-chairs of the campaign to solicit financial support from current faculty and staff.

Current faculty volunteers encourage donations in every department by holding presentations that explain the campaign and answer questions that individuals may have. “We ask each department to suggest names of individuals who would be interested in volunteering,” Hira said.

Co-chairs leading the campaign of retired faculty and staff are George and Agatha Burnet. George, a retired distinguished professor emeritus in the College of Engineering, and Agatha, a retired professor emeritus from the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, both joined the faculty in 1956.

“We’ve been a part of the university community for a long time and have developed a feeling of loyalty and gratitude to ISU for the opportunities we’ve had,” George Burnet said.

The Burnets are concerned only with those retired faculty and staff in the Ames area. The retired faculty and staff who left Ames will be contacted by the regional staff, he said.

He said the list of retired faculty in the Ames area is so large, he and other volunteers will be calling some of the residents and soliciting funds from the remaining by mail.

“Our target is to get that calling done by the first of September,” Burnet said.

Gifts to The Drive From Within can be made with cash, securities, real estate, life insurance or will provisions. Current faculty and staff making donations through payroll deductions are encouraged to make a five-year commitment.

Participation is the primary goal of The Drive From Within, so donators are encouraged to support any areas of their choice.

“Faculty and staff have to be the first ones to step forth and say yes, we support this,” said Shaun Keister, director of annual giving at the ISU Foundation.

This campaign shows that the people of ISU want ISU to become the best, Keister said.