Drexel University and The Academy of Natural Sciences

Background

Drexel University is an R1-designated research institution and a global leader in experiential learning. Over the past decade, Drexel has also set a bold goal of being the most civically engaged urban university in the nation. Its core academic schools are complemented by multiple Centers focused on a broad range of community engagement, urban innovation, and research and practice activities that engage with its surrounding neighborhoods.

While anchored in West Philadelphia, Drexel extends its commitment to the city and region through robust affiliations that include Salus University, home to one of the country’s premier and historic Colleges of Optometry, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the oldest natural history museum in the Americas with over 200 years of experience in curation, cutting-edge scientific research, and education, and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, which provides essential care for families in one of the highest-poverty neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

Solution

Fairmount’s support for Drexel spans more than a decade and numerous projects that have advanced its strategic goals and leveraged transformational funding. Our strategic planning and program design work has guided the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Nursing and Health Professions, aligned the Academy’s Science programs towards greater funding and impact, and led the launch of The Environmental Collaboratory, a globally innovative center of technical assistance, funding, and capacity building that is advancing community-level climate sustainability and environmental justice work locally, throughout the MidAtlantic, and internationally.

Fairmount’s strategic grantwriting support to the Institutional Advancement and University and Community Programs departments has yielded tens of millions of dollars to advance research and transform opportunity in Drexel’s nearest communities. Our success includes:

A $30M Promise Zone and Neighborhood designation and grant that expanded family and early education supports and established a new public middle school serving West Powelton and Mantua.
Millions raised in arts and humanities funding from national funders and federal sources for projects like the Writers’ Room intergenerational arts initiative and the Academy’s citizen science, digitization, and decolonization programming.
New resources to pilot and pioneer STEM, health sciences, and workforce development programs across the University.

Results

Combined, our guidance in planning and fundraising has advanced Drexel’s strategic higher education priorities, engaged students in one-of-a-kind, hands-on learning experiences, and enriched quality of life and opportunity for local residents of all ages.