Keston Center Donors Give $76,500 in Spring Fundraising Campaign

Thanks to active engagement from donors in the United States and abroad, the Keston Center for Religion, Politics, and Society raised more than $76,500 over the course of a 2-week fundraising campaign in early May. The proceeds benefitting the Keston Endowed Excellence Fund will advance the Center’s mission on an annual basis.

“We are grateful for the generous support of the Keston community,” said Keston Center director Kathy Hillman. “Campaign donors consisted of individuals from the United States and Europe, including researchers, members of the Keston Advisory Board and Keston Council in the UK, along with 20 current or past members of the Baylor Libraries Board of Advisors.

“I am especially pleased to report that we had 100% participation from our own Keston Center staff,” Hillman added.

In addition to $16,521 raised from individuals, two matching donors contributed additional gifts of $10,000 and $50,000, boosting the total to $76,521.66.

Funds gathered during the campaign will support the Keston Center’s work to:

• preserve, publicize, and gather archives and stories of persecuted believers and the ongoing cost of religious freedom;
• promote innovative research into persecution, totalitarianism, and the fight for religious freedom and defense of human dignity;
• provide an academic home for Baylor students, faculty, and visiting researchers from across the globe;
• present panels, lectures, and public conversation linked to faith, politics, and society;
• prepare future leaders and scholars through Baylor faculty teaching fellowships and student summer internships.

If you’d like to help further the Keston Center’s mission with a financial gift, visit the Give to the Keston Center website.

ABOUT THE KESTON CENTER FOR RELIGION, POLITICS AND SOCIETY AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

The Keston Center for Religion, Politics, and Society seeks to be a “voice of the voiceless” through lectures and special events and by promoting research, teaching and understanding of religion and religious persecution as the Center preserves, expands, and makes available the Keston Archives and Library, the world’s most comprehensive artificially assembled collection of materials on religious persecution under communism and other totalitarian regimes. Originally located at Keston College in Oxford, the Keston collection arrived in Waco in 2007 and became part of the Baylor Libraries in 2012. For more information, visit the Keston Center website.