WashU is a place where students become leaders. Where experts in every field collaborate to solve intractable challenges. Where the pursuit of knowledge generates discoveries that improve lives and the world.
Our mission to serve society compels us to accelerate our efforts. To build the university’s capacity to drive transformational change and create a more promising future for all, we have launched With You: The WashU Campaign.
Guided by the vision set forth in Chancellor Andrew D. Martin’s 2019 inaugural address and the ambitious 10-year strategic plan that followed, this fundraising and engagement campaign focuses on four areas of impact: advancing healthier lives, providing greater access to a WashU education, fostering flourishing communities and cultivating future-ready leaders.
As the name suggests, With You is a partnership between WashU’s faculty, staff and students, and our community of alumni and friends around the globe.
Today and always, your support is vital to our collective success.
Imagine what we can accomplish together.
What’s important to you?
WashU is at the forefront of addressing the world’s greatest challenges. Learn more about initiatives that matter to you.
Halting the progression of Alzheimer’s
Attacking cancer with targeted therapies
Expanding treatments for mental illness
Ensuring talented students can afford college
Decreasing the cost of graduate degrees
Preparing students to meet workforce needs
Reducing health disparities
Improving air and water quality
Alleviating hunger and malnutrition
Redefining leadership education
Fostering students’ professional development
Cultivating constructive discourse
Healthier LIVES
Through deep expertise in biomedical research and patient care, we deliver treatments that save and improve lives.
Halting the progression of Alzheimer’s
• WashU Medicine researchers are world leaders in creating blood tests to detect Alzheimer’s disease early and advancing promising treatments aimed at preventing or delaying the onset of symptoms.
• The Fort Neuroscience Research Building, which opened on the Medical Campus in August 2023, provides state-of-the-art labs for 120 teams working to unlock the mysteries of the brain and develop novel therapies for psychiatric disorders and neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s.
withyou.washu.edu/healthierlives
Attacking cancer with targeted therapies
• WashU Medicine scientists at Siteman Cancer Center were the first to sequence an entire cancer genome, and their research triggered an explosion in the field of cancer genomics that led to a new era of individualized patient care.
• Our faculty enables customized treatment through innovations such as genetic tests to identify mutations; bespoke breast and pancreatic cancer vaccines; and nanoparticles that arm the immune system to fight brain tumors.
Expanding treatments for mental illness
• Pioneering research conducted by WashU Medicine psychiatry investigators contributed to FDA approval of two drugs for postpartum depression and demonstrated that laughing gas and vagus nerve stimulation help patients with depression who don’t respond to other treatments.
• To reduce the risk of opioid addiction, medical school experts are devising inventive ways to relieve chronic pain, from an implantable LED device to synthetic compounds that avoid dangerous side effects in the brain.
Greater ACCESS
By reducing barriers to a premier education, we empower graduates to make a bigger impact in St. Louis and around the globe.
• Our no-loan financial aid policy replaces federal loans with scholarships, grants and work-study opportunities so undergraduates from every socioeconomic background can obtain a WashU education. The average aid package for incoming students last year was nearly $72,000.
• Through programs like the Rural Scholars Academy and scholarships for students with high need from Missouri and Southern Illinois, the university has increased the number of enrollees from rural communities by 53% since 2023.
Ensuring talented students can afford college Decreasing the cost of graduate degrees
• WashU’s top-ranked Brown School aims to become the first school of social work to eliminate tuition, lessening the debt burden for students who choose careers that advance human welfare despite lower average salaries.
• In 2022, our School of Law announced that every admitted student would receive financial support, including full-tuition scholarships for those from limited-income households, leveling the playing field for future attorneys.
withyou.washu.edu/greateraccess
Preparing students to meet workforce needs
• Programs in the School of Continuing & Professional Studies equip learners to fill positions in high-demand fields such as data management and health care, driving economic growth for individuals and regional employers.
• WashU collaborates with Teach St. Louis to provide aspiring and veteran teachers who work in high-need classrooms with training designed to boost student achievement.
Flourishing COMMUNITIES
Drawing on our strengths in public health, environmental science and other fields, we protect the well-being of populations and our planet.
Reducing health disparities
• Through outreach programs, WashU Medicine cancer prevention experts helped decrease breast cancer deaths among Black women in the St. Louis area by about one-third in eight years.
• Our medical school’s Gateway Curriculum emphasizes equity and outreach, preparing aspiring physicians to address social and economic factors that influence health. The curriculum received the highest level of accreditation in 2023.
Improving air and water quality
• A nationwide project led by McKelvey School of Engineering faculty will create systems that convert carbon dioxide emissions into environmentally friendly manufacturing products.
• Using commercially available filters that attach to household faucets, researchers affiliated with our Center for the Environment are devising a tool to simply and accurately measure lead and other chemicals in drinking water.
withyou.washu.edu/flourishingcommunities
Alleviating hunger and malnutrition
• WashU Medicine investigators who discovered a connection between the gut microbiome and childhood malnutrition leveraged their findings to develop therapeutic foods that restore healthy growth.
• The multidisciplinary Food and Agriculture Research Mission (FARM) in our new School of Public Health will drive sustainable solutions that enhance food production, distribution and access for millions worldwide.
Future-ready LEADERS
We invest in programs that prepare students for lives of leadership and purpose, equipping them to drive positive change in their professions and society.
withyou.washu.edu/futurereadyleaders
Redefining leadership education
• Our Bauer Leaders Academy, launched in 2024, sponsors an expanding array of resources, including workshops, coursework and one-on-one coaching, with the goal of helping all students discover and strengthen their potential to lead.
• The Taylor Family Center for Student Success provides opportunities for first-generation and limited-income students to connect with mentors, build social and professional networks, and explore internships.
Fostering students’ professional development
• More than 97% of first-year students participated in industry-aligned career communities last summer through our new Center for Career Engagement, enabling them to explore occupational pathways from their first days on campus.
• The Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement supplied stipends to 45 students who completed projects or internships with St. Louis nonprofit and civic organizations this year — double the number supported three years ago.
Cultivating constructive discourse
• Our Dialogue Across Difference program bridges divides by teaching participants to discuss polarizing topics in a positive and productive manner. About 3,000 students and staff took part in program offerings during the 2024-25 academic year.
• A robust slate of lectures, seminars and exhibits offers students, faculty, staff and the public the chance to explore a range of ideas and learn about pressing national and global issues.
Join us
At WashU, the problems you care about become our shared purpose. With you, we can push the boundaries of what’s possible and bridge the gap between “what if” and “here’s how.”
Your engagement, advocacy and investment are more essential than ever in our rapidly changing world. With you, we can overcome challenges and ensure continued progress toward our common goals.
Campaign gifts large and small bolster scholarships, research and our faculty, and fuel the Annual Fund, a critical source of flexible funding for immediate priorities. With you, we can enhance WashU’s educational excellence and academic distinction for the benefit of humanity.
For more information
Please visit withyou.washu.edu or email us at withyou@wustl.edu to learn how to support the With You campaign. With you, there’s no limit to what we can do together.
