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UVM President Tom Sullivan. File photo by John Herrick/VTDigger
BURLINGTON – Fundraising commitments secured by the University of Vermont Foundation have broken records for the fiscal year which ended June 30, breaking the $60 million mark for the first time in UVM’s history.
In a news release issued by the UVM Foundation, the university said commitments to UVM reached $60.5 million as of June 30, compared with $55.2 million in the same period a year ago, an increase of 9.6 percent over last year’s record mark.
Twelve of the new pledges were for $1 million or more, for a record-setting total of $30.3 million.
“Fiscal 2015 was the fourth consecutive year of record-setting fundraising for the UVM Foundation,” said foundation president and CEO Richard Bundy. “That is a testament to our donors and their commitment to UVM’s mission and values. And it speaks volumes about the quality of the people who work at the foundation.”
Of the more than $60 million in new pledges, $14 million was given for student scholarship support, $4.3 million for endowed chairs and professorships, $6.7 million for facilities, and $35.2 million for support of academic and other programs, according to the foundation’s news release.
A total of $31.8 million was committed to endowed funds.
“This growing support helps us to realize our strategic priorities: ensuring the academic excellence we need to compete as a leading public research university, keeping a UVM education accessible and affordable, attracting and retaining outstanding faculty and students and continually improving our facilities,” said UVM president Tom Sullivan.
“The impact of philanthropy is felt in every aspect of what makes this university an exceptional place of learning and discovery,” Sullivan said.
The $14.1 million for student scholarships — a 36.8 percent increase over last year’s $10.3 million — supports Sullivan’s top strategic priority of keeping a UVM education affordable for students, according to the announcement.
Sullivan has also stressed the importance of attracting and retaining outstanding faculty, an aspiration advanced by $4.3 million donated to create seven new endowed faculty positions in fiscal 2015.
Capital projects receiving support in fiscal 2015 included the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Complex, Billings Library renovation, Kalkin Hall expansion, Alumni House, and Multi-purpose Event Center.
Of the 23,371 donors — an increase of 7.9 percent over last year and the highest number of donors since the launch of the foundation in January 2012 — 8,838 were undergraduate alumni of the university, the foundation’s announcement said.
That represents a 5.9 percent increase over last year and is the first increase in undergraduate alumni donors in more than a decade, bucking a long-term national trend of declining alumni participation, the foundation said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: UVM fundraising commitments break record, more than $60 million promised.
