The University officially launched the “BrownTogether” campaign with a goal of $3 billion — its largest fundraising campaign to date.

The campaign launch, which took place Friday evening, followed a Corporation vote earlier in the day approving the details of the campaign proposed by President Christina Paxson P’19.

Arriving at the value for BrownTogether’s monetary goal involved “a little bit of science” and “a lot of art,” Paxson said, adding that there is no set end date for the campaign.

“Our goal is to make a significant impact on global issues beyond Brown — this includes Providence, the state, the nation and the world — so that tomorrow’s Brown can address tomorrow’s challenges,” she said.

Over the last two years, the University has raised just under $950 million “in what we are calling the nucleus fund,” said Patricia Watson, senior vice president for advancement. Ten donors have already given at least $25 million.

With the funds raised in this silent phase of the campaign, “we clearly have wind in our sails,” said Provost Richard Locke P’17.

The new campaign goal more than doubles that of Brown’s previous comprehensive fundraising effort.

At the January 2011 close of the University’s most recent campaign, “Boldly Brown,” former President Ruth Simmons had raised $1.6 billion over the course of six years, surpassing the campaign’s original goal of $1.4 billion. Sixty percent of the funds raised in this campaign came from alums, Paxson said.

In June 2011, Yale concluded its most recent campaign with funds totaling $3.9 billion. Princeton closed a campaign at $1.9 billion in June 2012. And in September 2013, Harvard launched its current campaign with the goal of raising $6.5 billion.

The targeted $3 billion in funds for BrownTogether will “set in motion plans designed to take Brown to a significantly new level of excellence,” Paxson said.

The objectives of the campaign are grounded in initiatives laid out in Paxson’s 10-year strategic plan, “Building on Distinction,” most notably revolving around the plan’s seven themes of “integrative scholarship.”

Ranging from sustainability to the human experience, these seven interdisciplinary themes use “cross-disciplinary inquiry” to address “real-world challenges,” Locke said.

“To do this kind of work and to do it at the level and the scale that we want requires resources, and that’s why this campaign is so important,” Locke said.

The campaign is divided into four priority areas of investment: people, education and research, campus and community and the Brown Annual Fund.

Investments in people will entail $1.1 billion in fundraising for undergraduate financial aid, medical and graduate student fellowships, endowed professorships and diversity, Paxson said.

“Investing in people is a very important part of this campaign,” Paxson said. “This is what makes Brown great.”

The planned $900 million investment in education and research will support growth in the seven integrative themes that will bring “different perspectives and ideas together to tackle problems that demand a diversity of knowledge and methodologies,” Paxson said.

This involves investing in fields of study that will investigate issues of peace and justice, explore how art affects society, examine how we create and interact with technology, and confront the effects of climate change, Paxson said.

Investments in this area will “help shape not just the kind of research and education that we offer here on campus but also help shape policy and help discover new treatments and cures and help us promote all sorts of new inventions,” Locke said.

The campaign’s goal is to raise $600 million for campus infrastructure, which will allow the University to build a new performing arts center and pursue further development in the Jewelry District, among other projects, and to support a campus where “students and faculty come together to do the kind of learning and research that serves society,” Paxson said.

The proposed $400 million in fundraising for the Annual Fund will add to the University’s “pool of unrestricted giving” that offers the flexibility to invest in various programs of study, research and student support, Paxson said.