UT Breaks Single-Year Fundraising Record

By Andrew Roush in Promote & Protect, Special on August 9, 2013 at 11:12 am | No Comments

The University of Texas has broken another record—and there’s still time left on the clock. It was announced Thursday that with three weeks remaining in the fiscal year, UT has set a new school record for single-year fundraising, gathering $396 million in donations since last September. The previous record, set in 2008, was $366 million.

The record is a good sign for the University’s ongoing fundraising drive, called the Campaign for Texas. Started in 2006, the highly ambitious project has raised roughly $2.2 billion of its $3 billion goal.

Calling it a remarkable achievement, John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) noted that “the significant growth in philanthropic investment in UT-Austin signals tremendous support among donors for the mission, the quality, and the direction of the institution.”

It’s an achievement that comes with some impressive numbers, as well. UT reports that 84,830 individuals, 2,629 corporations, and a record 304 foundations contributed to the effort this fiscal year. It also includes two major gifts: Michael and Susan Dell‘s $50 million donation to the Dell medical school and a $25 million gift for a new business school building from Terry Rowling, BBA ’76, and Robert Rowling, BBA ’76, Life Members.

“I am grateful to the tens of thousands of alumni and friends who recognize UT-Austin’s excellence and want to make the University even greater,” said UT president Bill Powers. “Their generosity will help generations of students.”

Powers told the Texas Tribune that he was confident the University would surpass $400 million by the end of the month.

The Campaign for Texas was launched in 2006, and publicly announced in 2008. Despite setting one of the highest fundraising goals in the nation, the campaign has succeed, even with its public phase occurring during a lengthy international recession. Growing each year, the fundraising effort supports the University’s programs and research, as wells as faculty, students, and facilities.

In his message to donors when the campaign began, chair Kenneth Jastrow, BBA ’69, MBA ’71, Distinguished Alumnus, hearkened back to UT’s first major giving effort, one to build a football stadium, the Hogg Auditorium, and Anna Hiss Gymnasium. The campaign’s catchphrase was “For Texas, I Will!”

“During the uncertainties of the 1930s, the UT alumni said, ‘For Texas, I Will!’ And they acted on it. They didn’t say, ‘For Texas, I Will—When Things Get Better,'” Jastrow wrote. “This will be a gift to generations of students to come, to our state, and to the world.”

 Photo by Marsha Miller courtesy UT-Austin.

Tags: bill powers, fundraising, kenneth jastrow, Michael and Susan Dell, Terry and Robert Rowling