BEMIDJI — Three years after publicly launching a five-year fundraising campaign at its Homecoming Honors Gala, BSU again chose the same event Friday to reveal it already had topped its $35 million goal.

At this year’s Honors Gala at the Sanford Center, gold glitter rained down as BSU officials announced that the Imagine Tomorrow campaign had raised $36.54 million in total gifts and pledges, BSU said in a release.

Faith Hensrud, making her first gala appearance after her inauguration as the new president of Bemidji State and Northwest Technical College earlier Friday, told the crowd of 450 alumni and guests that the campaign will yield benefits far into the future.

“Thanks to your continued support, and the incredible generosity that have made the Imagine Tomorrow campaign so successful,” Hensrud said. “BSU will remain indispensable in the lives of its students and in helping shape the world our grandchildren will live in.”

The comprehensive campaign, the university’s first ever, actually began July 1, 2011, and concluded June 30. Staff of the BSU Alumni & Foundation worked with donors to wrap up final gifts and arrive at the official grand total, BSU said in the release.

Nearly half of the total raised — $17.9 million — will support scholarships, doubling the amount of scholarships BSU provides its students, and an additional $4.2 million will support academic programs, officials said. Another $11.2 million came from annual giving the university can spend on its highest priorities, and $3.2 million in planned gifts will be received upon donors’ passing.

More than 5,600 donors contributed to Imagine Tomorrow, including 1,434 who had not previously contributed to the university, BSU said in the release.

Hensrud thanked alumni leaders from around the country who supported and helped guide the campaign, along with foundation and alumni staff, and former President Richard Hanson, for whom the Imagine Tomorrow campaign was a major project of his six-year tenure.

“His leadership of the Imagine Tomorrow campaign will be a tough act to follow,” she said, “but at the same time — what an inspiration.”

The campaign’s volunteer chair, retired General Mills executive Dave Sorensen of Minneapolis, said not only did the campaign reveal the generosity — and the capacity — of BSU’s alums, it confirmed their appreciation for their own years as students.

“Each gift came with a story,” Sorensen said in the release. “And it’s just unbelievably thrilling to hear. It just makes this whole campaign real.”

In addition to a doubling in annual scholarship dollars, from $700,000 in 2011 to $1.4 million this year, Imagine Tomorrow funds have gone to support a BSU Gallery in the downtown Bemidji’s Watermark Art Center, travel for BSU musical groups, new artificial turf in Chet Anderson Stadium, a total upgrade of BSU’s Mass Communications facilities, emergency support for American Indian students and a new residence and meeting place for Honors Program students, the school said.

The gala also included recognition of major donors and recognition of alumni for outstanding achievement.