The School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences have fallen behind the rest of the university in fundraising for Beyond Boundaries, Tufts' ongoing capital campaign.
The campaign is designed to raise $1.2 billion across the university and, on average, schools have brought in around 58 percent of their goals.
But the Sackler and medical schools, which are working together to fundraise, are only 33.9 percent complete. They aim to bring in $225 million and so far have gotten to $76.2 million.
While they are lagging behind in percentage raised, they still have more total funds than some of their counterparts, as their individual goal is the university's second most ambitious. Only the School of Arts and Sciences, which hopes to bring in $425 million, is trying to raise more.
"Our goal is such a stretch goal," said Leslie Kolterman, the medical school's senior director of development and alumni relations. "It's such a big goal."
Meanwhile, the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy have each raised over 90 percent of their individual goals.
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the School of Dental Medicine come in at just under 60 percent, with 58.3 percent and 59 percent respectively, and the School of Arts and Sciences at 63 percent.
The School of Engineering is about 40 percent done with fundraising efforts.
With the exception of Arts and Sciences, these schools have goals ranging from $40 million to $150 million.
According to Kolterman, the medical school is trailing behind its counterparts not only because of the ambitiousness of its goal, but also because of the limited giving capacities of the 30 to 35 percent of its alumni who donate each year.
"We've got loyal alumni," she said. "[But] the leaders of wealth capacity in our society nowadays are not by and large doctors."
As a result, the school is trying to solicit donations beyond its immediate community.
"Our alumni will not be able to give the amount of money that we need to raise in total, and so we need to reach out beyond our alumni base and get other people involved," she said.
Christine Sanni, the university's director of advancement communications and donor relations, said that this effort comes in the form of a variety of programming, such as lectures and symposia.
"None of these are fundraising events per se, but they generate excitement about faculty research, student life and the work of the school," she said. "[They give] alumni and donors a greater understanding of our successes in teaching, research and care, as well as the school's needs and priorities."
Instilling this understanding is key to getting donations, since medical schools at Harvard, Boston University and the University of Massachusetts are soliciting from the same pool as Tufts.
"We need to get our message out," Kolterman said. "We need to show how we're unique and special."
But this often is a difficult task.
"In order to get people interested in our mission, we really have to explain it," Kolterman said. "There's no easy way to explain all that the medical school entails."
Engaging potential donors in the complexities of medicine is consequently a "task that takes a lot of energy," she said.
The joint Sackler/medical school campaign has seen rewards for its efforts, though.
The $15 million gift from Steven Jaharis (M '87) and his father Michael earlier this year, for example, helped bring momentum to the fundraising. The money will be used to build a campus center at the Sackler school.
"The Jaharis gift has put some wind into our sails," Kolterman said.
And she said she is confident that the medical and Sackler schools will be able to overcome their hurdles and complete the campaign successfully.
"While we do have a tremendous goal, what we focus on is our success and our progress and our momentum," she said. "[That] helps us through our challenges."
