|
UMass News Release
September 3, 2003
AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst
raised a record $35.2 million in private donations for the
fiscal year ending June 30. That amount far surpassed last
year’s total of $20.1 million, and exceeded the previous
high of $30.3 million recorded in FY 2001, the final year
of the University’s recent comprehensive capital campaign.
In announcing the fundraising totals, UMass Amherst Chancellor
John V. Lombardi said that in addition to the $35.2 million
in private support, the campus secured three matching professorships,
earning a total of $1.5 million in matching funds from the
Higher Education Endowment Incentive Program, funded by the
Commonwealth.
Lombardi said: “This remarkable level of private support
indicates that our friends and supporters recognize the nationally
competitive quality of the teaching and research programs
at UMass Amherst. They know that an investment in this campus
produces an unusually high return of academic quality and
educational opportunities.
“We are grateful for their confidence and their support.”
Lombardi cited an increase in large gifts to UMass Amherst
as a key factor in the successful fundraising effort. Those
major gifts include:
-- $2 million toward the construction of the Integrated Sciences
Building by Kathleen and Robert Mahoney, both UMass Amherst
alumni, and Barbara and Richard Mahoney, who graduated in
1955. Their gift highlighted the celebration of the inauguration
of John Lombardi as UMass Amherst chancellor last February.
“Now, more than ever, an investment in UMass Amherst
is critical to the young people of Massachusetts,” said
Robert Mahoney, vice chairman, Citizens Financial Group Inc.,
and chair of the UMass trustees’ development committee.
“They’ve earned it; we can’t deny them.”
-- A professorship, designated by Terrence Murray, from the
FleetBoston Financial Foundation on the occasion of his retirement
as chairman of FleetBoston Financial Corporation. With matching
funds, the gift creates the $1.5 million Terrence Murray Commonwealth
College Honors Professorship; and,
-- A $1 million gift from Earl W. Stafford, chairman and
chief executive officer of Universal Systems & Technology,
Inc., of Virginia, a UMass Amherst alumnus, for creation,
with matching funds, of the Earl W. Stafford Professorship
in Entrepreneurial Studies.
An anonymous donor provided the funding to secure the third
matching professorship, in support of the University Chair
in Peace Psychology.
Further, Lombardi said, this year’s Annual Fund, which
seeks gifts from alumni, parents, and students by telephone
and mail, also raised more funds than ever before: $2 million
in support for the schools and colleges, and campus programs.
“Such support,” he noted, “provides us with
a vital margin of excellence.”
In addition, UMass Amherst won the first-ever Senior Class
Giving Challenge with the University of Connecticut. UMass
Amherst seniors pledged $27,351, while seniors at UConn pledged
$16,415. The average pledge by a UMass Amherst senior was
$39, compared with the average UConn pledge of $18.10. “This
is a wonderful testament to the tradition of philanthropy
UMass Amherst is building among its future alumni,”
Lombardi said.
Although not calculated in campus development totals, an
additional $275,000 in sponsorship support was given to fully
underwrite the celebrations surrounding Lombardi’s inauguration
as chancellor last February. Of these monies, $100,000 was
contributed to establish The Chancellors’ Scholars Fund
in recognition of the inauguration and in honor of all past
and present chancellors and presidents at UMass Amherst. The
Fund was augmented in a significant way through a $415,000
bequest from Isobel Smith, a 1956 alumna.
Last February, Lombardi announced the creation of the University
of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation, a private, nonprofit
corporation established to raise private funds for the campus.
Elizabeth Dale, vice chancellor for University Advancement,
and executive director of the campus foundation, said the
fundraising total is particularly noteworthy given world and
national events, the soft economy, and a recent report from
the Council for Aid to Education that found a 13.6 percent
decline in alumni giving last year.
Dale said: “The Foundation’s volunteer Board
of Directors is taking a leadership role in developing significant
philanthropic investment to support research, teaching, and
outreach for the campus.
“Additionally, we continue to build a team of high-caliber
development professionals to ensure our future success. Our
accomplishments to date demonstrate that working together,
we can achieve at the highest levels.”
|
