As available state budget dollars shrink, top Kansas University officials are focusing more and more on an upcoming private fundraising campaign to help support the university’s needs.

The public rollout for the campaign is still probably a year or two away, said Dale Seuferling, president of KU Endowment, but officials have been soliciting funds in a “silent phase” for about two years.

KU’s last campaign, “KU First: Invest in Excellence,” began its silent phase in 1998, went public in 2001 and concluded in 2004 — after raising $653 million, beating its $500 million goal.

Given the totals from the previous campaign, a $1 billion goal for KU isn’t out of the question, said Pam Parker, vice president of advancement at the University of Alabama, which just wrapped up a $612 million campaign last summer.

Seuferling said the exact goal of the upcoming campaign — along with many other details — are still being worked out with campaign leadership. A campaign organizing committee includes people such as Jill Docking, a KU alumna and chairwoman of the Kansas Board of Regents, and donors such as Joe and Jean Brandmeyer of El Paso, Texas, and Charles T. Sunderland of Overland Park.

Along with dollars to support scholarships and faculty endowments, capital projects like new classrooms, lab space and student living space could all be addressed. Specifics are being outlined by the campaign committee and the chancellor so they can be clearly articulated to donors.

For example, plans for a potential addition to the Spencer Art Museum, Seuferling said, still need to be completed and designs made before the project can be taken to donors for potential funding.

The campaign could face some challenges — the economy is still recovering from a dramatic downturn — and officials don’t yet know how any potential fallout from a ticket scandal at Kansas Athletics unveiled this week will affect the campaign.

Forrest Hoglund, a KU athletic and academic donor who is involved with the campaign leadership group, said he anticipated the ticket scandal would mostly have a short-term impact.

“It’ll have some effect, and you’ll hear people grouse about it,” Hoglund said, but in the longer term, he anticipated the scandal’s impact on the campaign would diminish as the campaign drew on.

Seuferling said that while the scandal was unfortunate for the university’s image, he thought donors would separate it from capital campaign contributions.

“The whole situation is disappointing and discouraging to people, but at the same time, the specifics of the ticket scandal relate to tickets and what a small group of people did there and took advantage of the situation that presented itself,” Seuferling said. “Most donors, they understand this has nothing to do with charitable contributions or support for students in the classroom or faculty support.”

Even in a down economy, donations to KU hit record highs in the last two fiscal years, though Seuferling said the experiences of the last two years are still on the minds of some.

“There seem to be more unknowns out there about the future, so people are more cautious,” he said.

At the University of Alabama, drawing on successful donor relationships and clearly articulated priorities from the top university leadership helped propel the campaign to success, Parker said.

Even in a tough economy, she said the university was amazed at how people continued to give. Though many donors said they weren’t able to give as much as planned, Parker said it’s not like all the available money just disappeared.

“The ones that have it, still have it,” Parker said.

Strong leadership — from the institution and volunteers — is probably the most critical factor for success, she said.

“We sent out three newsletters a year and kept people informed on the campaign’s progress,” Parker said. “The campaign was called ‘Our Students, Our Future.’ When it’s about students, people respond.”