As Saint Mary’s College celebrates its 2026 alumnae reunion weekend, a new initiative has been made public — a $200 million capital campaign called Ring Out Ring True.
The College currently counts more than $180 million toward its goal. The money includes donations since Conboy took over as president on June 1, 2020.
Conboy said that the “quiet phase” of the campaign began in 2021, and the College stepped up its efforts of informing alumni of the project in 2022.
The previous campaign, Faith Always, Action Now, raised $105 million between 2008-2014 under former College President Carol Ann Mooney, surpassing its $80 million goal. This included $19 million toward the College’s annual fund, $35 million for endowed scholarships, and $30 million for the Mathile Science Hall renovation and Angela Athletic and Wellness Complex.
In a joint interview with Conboy and Johnson, both said they expect the campaign to exceed $200 million within the next few years.
“Back in 2022, [we] set a very ambitious working goal of $175 million, and we’ve been working toward that in this quiet phase,” Johnson said. “We’ll [now] go into a public phase, and it will get loud and everything we do for the next 18 months to two years, we’ll really be talking about this campaign.”
Saturday was chosen for the official launch because of the 720 registered individuals for alumnae reunion weekend and campaign donors.
The campaign aims to enhance research through experimental learning donations and touch on improving the financial performance of the College by obtaining more endowment funds rather than pulling from student tuition and fees.
Conboy also expressed hope that the campaign will fund a renovation of Regina Hall to move social work, speech language pathology and all health-related disciplines into one building.
According to Johnson, the College has raised more than $59 million for scholarships in the “Empowering Leaders” pillar of the campaign, above $8.8 million under the Office for Student Empowerment for the “Enriching Our Community” aspect, and more than $6.6 million for endowed professorships and obtaining more funds for faculty retainment and development for “Enhancing Our College”
The three pillars draw from the commitments outlined in the Revere and Revise: Saint Mary’s College 2030 strategic plan.
The campaign reports 16,000 donors so far. 60% of them are alumnae — representing all 50 states, three territories and six continents. Over 30 active alumnae clubs have assisted in the campaign through their engagement with donors.
Donations from alumni include “a large gift from Francis Bardello Craig to found a leadership program in mathematics and computer science and that’s going to pay for a new computer science faculty member, research funds for faculty members and research funds for research, and experiential learning funds for students in mathematics and computer science,” Conboy added. “We have two additional endowed chairs that have been named as part of this campaign.”
The Trustey Trail — a two-and-a-half-mile campus walkway, including lightning, call boxes and prayer notes — is another result of the campaign, stemming from a multimillion-dollar gift by alum Kristine Anderson Trustey and Sean McGraw.
Alongside the campaign, Johnson and Conboy emphasized how executive leadership and the Board of Trustees have been able to build a “culture of philanthropy.” Donors such as Jennifer Prikkel and vice chair of the board Lorraine Sheehan Wilson have made significant gifts to the College in recent years alongside other board members.
Angelina Stupak, student trustee of the board during the 2025-2026 school year, sat in for periodic meetings to discuss strategy for the future of the College and evaluating its current status as an institution.
“As a board member, I’ve been up to date on the campaign for about a year now, and over time, we’ve seen some really exciting developments targeted towards providing access and enhancing community. As the campaign continues to flourish, we’re thrilled to be planning a future for Saint Mary’s that is prosperous, mission-driven and created with love,” Stupak stated.
Stupak attributed the title of the new portion of the campaign to the Saint Mary’s class ring that is given during a student’s junior year.
Although only becoming public now, it is already provided funding for the College’s present operations.
“We have already been able to deliver so many things to campus already, like the PACE Center [and] the scholarships,” Johnson said. “It has been so inspiring to see our donors make these truly stretch gifts. They’re so excited about what’s happening at Saint Mary’s and the trajectory of the college, and people are investing in where we’re going.”
