The UI and the UI Foundation recorded $210.6 million in outright cash gifts, pledge payments, annuities/ life income gifts and estate distributions for the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to Walter Knorr, UI chief financial officer and treasurer of the UI Foundation. It marks the fifth consecutive year that cash gifts exceeded $210 million.
Knorr made the announcement at the UI Foundation's 77th annual meeting on Sept. 28 to about 500 elected foundation members and members of the Presidents Council and Chancellor's Circle.
"The continued commitment that the alumni and friends of the university continue to make is incredible and much appreciated," Knorr said. "These gifts help provide the margin of excellence for the university."
"We had another fantastic year in fundraising," said Sidney S. Micek, the president of the UI Foundation. "We have had a great deal of momentum coming off the successful Brilliant Futures Campaign. The enthusiasm for the University of Illinois is impressive. We have alumni, donors and friends all over the country - if not the world - who support this superb university. I would like to thank all of them for believing in the university's mission."
Nearly 142,000 gifts were recorded by more than 75,500 donors during FY12. (See designations and sources of the gifts at right.)
Of the $210.6 million raised, 74 percent ($155 million) was designated as current- use funds - to be used during the current fiscal year. Also, $45 million was designated for the endowment while $11 million was designated for annuity/life income funds.
The university and the foundation reached a new threshold in terms of new business. New gifts, grants, pledges and deferred gift commitments totaled $310.9 million in FY 2012. That is only the second year that the $300 million figure has been reached. It is a 23 percent increase over last year ($254 million) and the sixth year in a row that the new business total has surpassed the $250 million mark.
The active endowment stood at $1.65 billion as of June 30, up about 3 percent from a year ago. Deferred gift commitments to the university and the foundation totaled $873.9 million. This deferred amount combined with the active endowment creates a total endowment of $2.52 billion.
The Access Illinois: Presidential Scholarship Initiative, announced in June 2011, has new gifts, grants, pledges and deferred gift commitments of $46.8 million as of Aug. 31. Access Illinois is a three-year effort to raise at least $100 million expressly for scholarships, fellowships and other forms of student support for all three UI campuses.
Thirteen major gifts to benefit Urbana campus
Thirteen private gifts totaling more than $11 million earmarked for the UI's Urbana campus were announced Sept. 28 at the UI Foundation's 77th annual meeting.
The gifts from alumni and friends were highlighted at the UI Foundation's business meeting Friday morning.
Featured gifts:
- A seven-figure deferred gift from alumnus Robert Endres, of New York City, will fund the Robert O. Endres Professor in Cinema Studies at the University Library.
- Deferred and outright gifts totaling more than six figures from alumnus Milton Hieken and Barbara Barenholtz Hieken, of Clayton, Mo., will enhance and promote academic excellence in the College of Engineering.
- A $1 million outright gift from Chris and Kathy Perry, of Winnetka, Ill., will fund four-year scholarships for undergraduates in the College of Business.
- A $1 million deferred gift from Carl L. Vacketta, of Washington, D.C., will establish the Carl L. Vacketta Scholarship in the College of Law.
- Gifts in excess of seven figures from Kenneth T. "K.T." and Betty Wright, of Blandinsville, Ill., are providing outright, pledged and deferred support to the College of Veterinary Medicine; the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; and the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics. Specifically, the gifts will support Veterinary Medicine facilities expansion, establish a scholarship for incoming first-year veterinary students, support and enhance activities related to swine medicine and research, create the Byron and Wilma Wright Memorial Scholarship (in honor of K.T. Wright's parents) in the College of ACES, fund purchase of plasma screens in the College of ACES Library Information and Alumni Center, and establish the Byron Wright Memorial Football Scholarship to assist student-athletes on the football team.
- Two separate seven-figure deferred gifts from Ron Fark and John Wormley, of Providence, R.I., will provide unrestricted support for the University Library and endow a study abroad scholarship for students in the School of Architecture in the College of Fine and Applied Arts.
Deferred and outright gifts in excess of $700,000 from Saul Morse and Anne Morgan, of Springfield, Ill., will create the Saul J. Morse and Anne B. Morgan Professorship in Applied Health Sciences in the College of Applied Health Sciences. The purpose of the professorship will be to address issues related to health, aging and disability.
- A deferred gift of $700,000 from David Ginn and Richard Stevens, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., will create student scholarships in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. The scholarships will be awarded to students interested in health sciences librarianship or health informatics.
- A $750,000 deferred gift from Clarence Klaus Jr., of Butler, Pa., will provide support to the School of Architecture and Allerton Park in Monticello, Ill. Half of the income from the Clarence E. Klaus Jr. Endowment Fund will increase educational opportunities for architecture students and enhance the overall academic excellence in the School of Architecture. One quarter of the gift proceeds will provide need-based scholarships to architectural undergraduates. The remaining quarter will support and promote Allerton Park.
- A seven-figure deferred gift from Norman E. Whitten Jr., of Urbana, will support the Spurlock Museum and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, both housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Support for the Spurlock Museum will focus on research and intellectual activities of the newly renamed Dorothea S. and Norman E. Whitten Gallery of South American Peoples. Funding for the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies will support travel opportunities for graduate students conducting field research and support fellowships in the center. The gift is a tribute to the 49-year collaboration between Whitten, a UI professor emeritus of anthropology and of Latin American studies, and his late wife, Dorothea, who was an adjunct curator at the Spurlock Museum and a research associate at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
- A $1 million deferred gift from Mary Sue Divan Murray, of Fremont, Calif., will create an endowed professorship in the department of theatre in the College of Fine and Applied Arts and support theatrical productions that are open to all undergraduate students on campus.
- A major deferred gift from Catherine Key, of Charleston, Ill., will create the Carmela Toffolo Key and Charley C. Key Lincoln Hall Scholarship Fund. The Key Fund, which will provide scholarships for humanities students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, honors the memory of Catherine Key's parents.