Annual Donations to UNC Exceed $200 Million Mark for First Time

Posted on July 28, 2006

Carolina raised a record $241.2 million in private gifts in fiscal 2006, the first time that the University in a single year has raised more than $200 million in cash and other assets that is immediately available.

UNC has set three consecutive years of such record-setting support, topping $192.5 million in 2005 and $192 million in 2004.

“Breaking $200 million in gifts received is a tremendous milestone,” said Paul Fulton ’57, co-chair of the Carolina First Campaign Steering Committee. “It shows just how much our supporters believe in what the University is doing and how much they understand the importance of private gifts in meeting our highest priorities. We’re immensely grateful for their generosity.”

This fiscal year that ended June 30 also lifted the Carolina First fundraising campaign to $1.81 billion in commitments, meaning Carolina First has now passed its initial goal of $1.8 billion. A total of $287.2 million of that amount was made in fiscal 2006. In October 2005, the goal for the Carolina First campaign, which runs through Dec. 31, 2007, was increased to $2 billion.

Overall in the campaign, alumni have given $678.3 million and corporations and foundations have provided almost $710 million. The balance has come from friends of the University and other organizations.

Gifts in 2006 helped the University create 29 endowed professorships as well as 98 undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships. That raised Carolina First’s totals for these priorities to 181 and 603, respectively.

In student support, an $11 million bequest from the estate of Col. John Harvey Robinson ’57 jump-started a $60 million campaign to raise funds for merit-based scholarships that is expected to help UNC land more top high school scholars.

Also in May, the University received $5 million from FedEx to support a global education building now under construction. It will house international and area studies programs for the College of Arts and Sciences, including study abroad.

Also, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust has made a $5 million challenge grant to establish a new endowment for UNC’s Carolina Performing Arts Series. The trust awarded Carolina $2.5 million, with the remaining $2.5 million to come after Carolina raises $5 million for the series by the end of Carolina First.

“The scope of the campaign is tremendous,” said Charlie Shaffer ’64, campaign co-chair. “The impact is being felt not only in Chapel Hill, but across our state and beyond. More deserving students are able to come here, and we have more great professors to teach them. More groundbreaking research takes place in our laboratories, and we have more and better facilities to support it.”

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Related coverage is available online:

• Building to be Named for FedEx Following $5 Million Gift
  News report from May 2006
  
• Carolina First Fundraising Goal Raised to $2 Billion
  News report from October 2005
  
• UNC Breaks Fundraising Record
  News report from July 2004

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