McInnis headlines first ‘For Humanity Illuminated’ fundraising event
University President Maurie McInnis, Yale Corporation members and alumni spoke at the ‘For Humanity’ campaign’s first event of 2025, which took place in New York City on Monday.

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University President Maurie McInnis headlined her first fundraising campaign event for the “For Humanity Illuminated” series at the Lincoln Center in New York City on Monday evening.
The event comes at the tail end of “For Humanity,” the University’s largest fundraising campaign, which is scheduled to conclude in June 2026 with a goal of $7 billion. The campaign events allow the University to introduce McInnis to Yale communities across the country, Joan O’Neill, vice president of alumni affairs and development, wrote to the News.
“It’s exciting to be in the final seventeen months of the campaign, and I look forward to working with our community to finish as strongly as we started,” McInnis wrote in an email to the News.
According to O’Neill, around 1,000 people attended the event at the Lincoln Center, while over 700 more watched the livestream. The registration numbers are significantly higher than those of the first “For Humanity Illuminated” series of 2024, which saw just over 500 people in attendance.
As of the 2024 fiscal year, the campaign has raised $5.8 billion. O’Neill previously wrote to the News that the campaign is “on track” to meet its 2026 campaign goal.
In her speech, McInnis reflected on her conversations with Yale community members and identified themes in community members’ aspirations for Yale’s future developments.
McInnis shared her academic background, including the “high regard” that one of her undergraduate professors held for Yale, a regard that motivated her to apply to a doctoral program at the University. McInnis also highlighted alumni achievements and service efforts across areas such as climate change and mental health, which she learned about through her time listening to feedback from members of the Yale community.
Additionally, McInnis referenced her fall update published on Oct. 15, in which she consolidated common themes in the community input she gathered throughout the fall semester. In line with what McInnis previously told the News, she said at the event that she is entering “phase two,” which will “sharpen the discussion around the specific themes that have risen to the top.”
The first of these themes is that “trust in and regard for institutions of higher education are at an all time low.” McInnis called for collaboration across partisan divides to establish Yale’s leadership in national discourse surrounding the social and economic power of educational institutions.
McInnis is increasing Yale’s presence in Washington, opening a new office space there and hiring a director of federal relations, to lobby for Yale’s interests as higher education braces for a second Donald Trump administration that has signaled hostility to universities.
McInnis also reiterated the need for expanding interdisciplinary collaboration and fostering partnership with the city of New Haven, which she previously mentioned in her October update to the Yale community.
Finally, McInnis pointed to a strategic plan created by Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis in December 2023, which she said will allow Yale to continue offering a “preeminent undergraduate experience.”
“I’m working with [Lewis] to ensure that Yale remains a leader in curricular innovation and fostering a community of learning and exploration for our diverse and talented undergraduate student body,” McInnis said.
Lewis wrote in an email to the News that he will have “an update on the plan within a few weeks.”
Outside of McInnis’ speech, the event also featured Yale Corporation members Marta Tellado GRD ’02 and Joshua Steiner ’87, a musical performance by Tony Award-nominated Broadway actress Melissa Errico ’92 and presentations from professor James Forman Jr. LAW ’92, professor Riccardo Hernández DRA ’92, Dr. Ania Jastreboff GRD ’11 and Paralympic Silver Medalist Ali Truwit ’23.
The remaining “For Humanity Illuminated” series events of the year will visit the cities of Anaheim, CA; Menlo Park, CA; Chicago and London.
Josie Reich contributed reporting.