The Mayo Clinic has raised $1-billion via its current capital campaign and is on track to hit its target of $1.25-billion when the drive wraps up at the end of next year, according to the Post-Bulletin, in Rochester, Minn.

The last $250-million will be tough to win, however, says Jay Vogelsang, a fund raiser for the Rochester, Minn., charity. “Considering the economy, considering what’s going on in the world right now, it will be a challenge for us.”

Most of the 195,000 individuals who have given to the campaign so far have been Mayo patients, he says. The five-year drive began in 2005 with a “leadership gift” of $25-million from Bill Marriott, chief executive officer of Marriott International, a Mayo emeritus trustee who chaired the campaign. Mayo surgeons performed successful heart surgery on his daughter in 1962.