Following nearly three years of planning and negotiation, an endowment fund‐raising campaign was launched on behalf of the chemistry library at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign (UIUC). The campaign, tied to the 100th Anniversary of the chemistry library, was directed at UIUC School of Chemical Sciences (SCS) alumni and SCS faculty. Contributions were sought to create a $200,000 “birthday endowment,” a continuing fund to purchase books for the chemistry library, and endow the library monograph budget with at least $10,000 per year.