Campaign for Washington tops $200 million mark

The University has reached a milestone in its $250-million Campaign for Washington. At the close of 1990 the UW had received $205.4 million in gifts and pledges. Gifts actually received during December totaled nearly $15 million, the largest one-month gift total in the University’s history.

The campaign’s highest priority—$125 million, or half the total goal—is to increase the University’s endowment. Through December 1990, $90 million had been committed for endowment purposes, including $21.4 million for faculty support (chairs and professorships) and $18 million for students (graduate fellowships and undergraduate scholarships). Endowment gifts for other purposes—such as Paul Allen’s gift to the University Libraries, and unrestricted endowment—totaled more than $50 million.

“Increasing endowed support for faculty and students through professorships, fellowships and scholarships is our greatest challenge for the rest of the campaign,” says Marilyn Dunn, president of the University of Washington Foundation. “We are delighted with our progress so far. But we take seriously the goals for endowed faculty and student support and between now and June of 1992 will make every effort to reach those targets.”

Individuals have contributed $114.7 million, 56 percent of the total raised so far in the UW’s first major fund drive. Corporations and foundations nationwide have contributed $90.7 million, including two recent gifts honoring outstanding business leaders who are UW alumni.

The Foster Foundation has committed $1.5 million in honor of the late Albert O. Foster and his wife, Evelyn, to partially fund construction of a new School of Business Administration library which would be named for the Fosters. The foundation will increase its commitment to up to $3 million—half the estimated project cost—if an equal amount is raised from other major donors. If sufficient private funds are not received the Foster gift will create the Albert O. and Evelyn Foster Chair in the business school which currently has no endowed chairs. A.O. Foster, a 1928 UW business graduate, founded the Seattle brokerage firm of Foster and Marshall (bought by Shearson/ American Express in 1982).

A $1 million gift also was received from the Ford Motor Company Fund in honor of Donald E. Petersen, co-chair of the Campaign for Washington. Part of the Ford gift will provide furnishings and equipment for two rooms in the new Allen Library. In recognition of Petersen’s and Ford’s contributions during the campaign, one of the rooms will be named the Donald E. Petersen Room. The majority of the gift will establish the Donald E. Petersen Endowment for Excellence, which can be used at the President’s discretion to address needs anywhere on campus, initially focusing on faculty and graduate student support. Petersen, a 1946 UW engineering graduate, spent his career with Ford, retiring as chairman and chief executive officer in March of 1990.