Brilliant Futures reaches two-thirds of $2.25 billion goal
Brilliant Futures, one of the largest development campaigns in higher education and the largest in the UI’s 141-year history, has reached the two-thirds point in gift commitments as of the end of September: $1.478 billion toward its goal of $2.25 billion.
The campaign, which began July 1, 2003, and will conclude Dec. 31, 2011, counts outright gifts, grants and pledges to the university as well as deferred gifts commitments. Of the $1.478 billion raised to date, $1 billion were outright gift commitments and $478.3 million were in deferred gift arrangements.
As of Sept. 30, 2008, $1.053 billion had been designated by donors for the Urbana-Champaign campus, $365.7 million for the Chicago campus, $19.8 million for the Springfield campus and $39.7 million for UI Foundation and University Administration purposes.
“Without question, the support for the Brilliant Futures Campaign has been extremely positive,” said UI Foundation President Sidney S. Micek. “Our alumni and friends of the University of Illinois have been very generous. They recognize that we have three outstanding campuses and our faculty and students are among the nation’s finest. We are affecting lives throughout Illinois, this country and around the world.”
Almost $611 million of the total raised so far has come from alumni of the university, with another $167 million from non-alumni. Corporations and businesses have contributed $287 million and $271 million has been received from foundations.
Of the total $2.25 billion Brilliant Futures Campaign, $1.5 billion is the goal for the Urbana-Champaign campus. The goal for the Chicago campus is $650 million and the Springfield campus mark is $28 million. The combined goal for university administration and the UI Foundation is $72 million. The funding goals were determined by the chancellors at each of the three campuses according to priorities identified in a universitywide strategic planning process initiated by UI President B. Joseph White in 2005.
Brilliant Futures is the third comprehensive capital campaign for the UI. The initial fundraising endeavor, Campaign for Illinois, exceeded its $100 million goal by raising $137 million between 1979 and 1985. The second effort, Campaign Illinois, began in 1991 with a goal of $1 billion. When that campaign closed on Dec. 31, 2000, gifts totaled $1.53 billion, making it one of the largest fundraising efforts conducted by a public university at that time.
Brilliant Futures campus goals
Urbana-Champaign: Campaign funds will be used to cultivate leaders for the 21st century, provide excellence in academic programs, encourage breakthrough knowledge and innovation, create transformative learning environments and ensure that the best and brightest students have access to the Illinois experience.
Chicago: Funds will help UIC focus on combining an urban university with the resources of a leading research institution to advance the creation and sharing of knowledge, enrich student experiences, expand the Great Cities Commitment, promote healthy societies and increase access to academic excellence.
Springfield: Campaign funds will be utilized to offer innovative, high-quality liberal arts education, public affairs activities and professional programs.
Brilliant Futures receives $213.9 million during FY08
Gifts to the UI and the UI Foundation for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2008, totaled $213.9 million, according to Walter K. Knorr, UI chief financial officer and treasurer of the foundation. Of the donations received, $47.2 million was designated to the UI directly and $166.7 million was contributed through the foundation. Total private giving increased 12 percent over the previous year. Alumni and friends giving increased by more than 15 percent or $12.8 million from FY07.
Knorr announced the private gift figures during the UI Foundation’s 73rd annual meeting business session on Oct. 17. Knorr told the audience of more than 400 elected foundation members and Presidents Council donors: “The University of Illinois hit a milestone with this academic year – more than 70,000 students are enrolled at our three campuses in Urbana, Chicago and Springfield. On average, the university awards around 18,000 degrees every year. These students and their knowledge translate into significant University of Illinois impact around the nation and the world. Many of their academic accomplishments are financed, in part, by the generosity of the private gifts that you and thousands of others entrust to foundation stewardship.”
The $213.9 million in gifts received provided support for a number of programs across the three campuses:
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$57.5 million was added to endowment.
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$40.2 million was designated to support various academic units and programs.
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$45.3 million was received in gifts and grants for research.
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$13.9 million was designated in deferred gifts.
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$11 million was given for buildings and equipment.
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$3.3 million dollars was earmarked for faculty/staff compensation.
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$12.8 million was provided for other restricted purposes.
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$11.8 million was for public service and extension.
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$12 million was designated for athletics.
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$3.9 million for student financial aid – including scholarships, fellowships and student loans.
The market value of the university’s endowed funds grew from $1,058.8 billion at fiscal year-end 2004 to more than $1.460 billion as of June 30, 2008. This represents a $401 million increase in the endowment market value over the five-year period. The active endowment total of $1.460 billion (as of June 30, 2008) is 67 percent of the total endowment of $2.177 billion. That figure includes $573.5 million designated as revocable deferred gifts that are presently known to the university and foundation. Another $143 million of the endowment is in charitable trusts and other irrevocable deferred gifts held by the foundation and others.
The $213.9 million in gifts
Alumni $65.5M 31 percent Friends $30.4M 14 percent Corporations $58.7M 27 percent Foundations $35.3M 17 percent Associations $24.0M 11 percent
Gifts to benefit Urbana-Champaign
Twenty private gifts totaling more than $43 million earmarked for UI programs at the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses were announced Oct. 17 at the UI Foundation’s 73rd Annual Meeting. The gifts from alumni and friends will be included in the university’s ongoing $2.25 billion Brilliant Futures fundraising campaign.
Gifts to the Urbana-Champaign campus:
• A deferred gift in excess of $10 million from Gail Veasman Kellogg and Brooks Kellogg, of Chicago and Steamboat Springs, Colo., that will establish the Gail Kellogg Endowed Fund in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The fund will provide scholarships for math and science students, faculty chairs and professorships, support for potential teaching activities in China, and other college needs.
• A deferred gift of about $5 million from George and Tamara Mitchell, of Sidney, Ill., to create two endowed chairs in the College of LAS’s department of biochemistry and a fellowship in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. The Gregorio Weber Endowed Chair in Biochemistry honors the late UI professor and researcher who specialized in florescence, spectroscopy and protein chemistry. The J. Woodland Hastings Endowed Chair in Biochemistry honors the former UI and Harvard educator whose research focused on bioluminescence and circadian rhythms. The Gregg and Jeff Helgesen Fellowship in Jazz Studies honors father and son jazz musicians.
• A deferred gift of $1 million from Rosann Gelvin Noel, of Champaign, combined with previous support will result in the naming of the Rosann Gelvin Noel Gallery at Krannert Art Museum and fund art acquisitions or exhibitions.
• A seven-figure deferred gift from Carol Berthold, of Ellicott City, Md., that will create the Berthold Family Endowment Fund to provide unrestricted support for the University Library. The fund honors Carol’s parents, Gerrard and Mary Berthold, as well as her brother, Jerry Berthold, a UI graduate.
• A deferred $1 million gift from Jack and Charmian Bowsher, of San Diego, that will create a fellowship and several scholarships. Most of their gift will support a fellowship and scholarships in the College of Education’s department of human resources education, with one scholarship named in honor of Charmian’s parents, Alfred and Helen Clem, and the others named for the donors. The remainder of the gift will provide undergraduate scholarships in the College of Business. One will be named the Matthew and Ella Bowsher Scholarship in honor of Jack’s parents.
Seven gifts – three from individuals and four from global professional services firms – were directed to the College of Business for its new $60 million Business Instructional Facility on the Urbana-Champaign campus. Included:
• $7.5 million outright from Michael T. and Nancy Tokarz and their family, of Purchase, N.Y., that creates Tokarz Hall for undergraduate programs and classes.
• A pledge of $850,000 from Jeffrey and Deborah Margolis, of Corona Del Mar, Calif., has created the Margolis Market Information Laboratory, a technologically advanced learning center that simulates the financial market environment. The lab will feature a primary instruction room, an advanced information and product development lab, and open-air computer lab.
• $500,000 outright from Jim and Lionelle Elsesser of Clayton, Mo., has established the Jim Elsesser and Lionelle Elsesser Classroom. A second gift of $500,000 will create fellowships, primarily in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.
• $2.5 million from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, to create the PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountancy Student Center, which will serve as a home for accountancy students on campus as well as those who have completed their degree.
• $2 million from Deloitte in support of the 300-seat Deloitte Auditorium, a state-of-the-art venue for College of Business activities.
• $2 million from Ernst & Young to create the Ernst & Young Center for Career Advancement, which includes a suite of offices, meeting and interview rooms, and a resource room for the college’s career advancement function.
• $1 million from KPMG LLP to establish the KPMG International Accounting Suite, which includes offices, meeting and conference rooms.
Three gifts were designated for the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences on the Urbana campus:
• A $2 million grant from the Clearing Corporation Charitable Foundation will establish The Clearing Corporation Foundation Endowed Chair in Derivatives Trading in the department of agricultural and consumer economics. The chair will build on the UI’s renown in the area of futures and options trading.
• A $2 million deferred gift from G. Richard Johnson, of Urbana, will support plant breeding activities in the department of crop sciences.
• More than $600,000 outright and deferred from James and Erin Ross, of Hawthorne, Fla., will support several activities, including an international travel award for a graduate student in the department of agricultural and consumer economics, judging teams for livestock, meat and dairy, and a scholarship for a wheelchair athlete in the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services.
Also recognized were three gifts from faculty members and administrators on the Urbana campus:
• A deferred gift of about $750,000 from Robert Henderson, of Urbana, will establish the Robert and June Henderson Endowment Fund to support special education programs in the College of Education. The fund honors the memory of Professor Henderson’s wife, June, a social worker. A faculty member at Illinois for more than 40 years, Bob Henderson was chair of the department of special education for 20 years. He currently serves as professor emeritus at Illinois.
• Current and deferred gifts totaling more than $500,000 from Kenneth and Mary Andersen, of Champaign, with most of that total supporting the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ Marquee Performance Series. Ken Andersen served on the faculty and administration at the UI for more than 30 years, and is professor emeritus in the department of communication. Mary Klaaren Andersen taught at the UI for 10 years.
• A six-figure deferred gift from Donald Brieland and Wynne Korr, of Champaign, to create the Dr. Donald Brieland and Dr. Wynne S. Korr Endowment for Social Work Fund. The fund will support a fellowship in and provide unrestricted support to the School of Social Work. A graduate of Carleton College, Brieland earned a master’s degree at Northwestern University and a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. He is the founding director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and his long career in academia includes serving as professor in the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, dean of the School of Social Work on the Urbana-Champaign campus, and dean of the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Korr earned her bachelor’s and doctoral degrees at the State University of New York. She worked at the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, taught at the Jane Addams College of Social Work for 14 years and directed the doctoral program at the University of Pittsburgh before she was named the dean of the School of Social Work at Illinois, a position she has held since 2002.
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