The University of Washington Foundation announced Jan. 26 that it is raising its fund-raising goal by $500 million, to $2.5 billion. Campaign UW: Creating Futures began in 2000 with a goal of raising $2 billion by June 2008. The UW hit that goal on Jan. 26, more than 17 months ahead of schedule.
“We reached our goal far more rapidly than we ever could have imagined,” says Orin Smith, president of the foundation. “Our contributors—alumni and friends of the University, as well as foundations and corporations—have been amazingly generous in their decisions to support the great work of this institution.
“We now have the opportunity in the next 17 months to raise additional funds to meet remaining needs, including substantial support for student scholarships. One of the highest priorities is our Students First campaign, an effort to ensure that a UW education remains affordable for all those qualified to attend,” he says.
Students First offers a 50 percent match on gifts of at least $100,000 targeted for undergraduate scholarships or graduate fellowships. The new campaign goal includes $50 million for Students First.
The UW’s original goal of $2 billion put it among the top universities in terms of private giving, and the new $2.5 billion goal raises its stature even further. The record for completed campaigns goes to UCLA, which raised $3 billion over 10 years ending in 2005. But Stanford is in the midst of a $4.3 billion campaign scheduled to end in 2011 and Harvard is rumored to have an even more ambitious target for its next fund drive.
So far, the UW campaign has created 32 additional endowments for chairs, 81 for professorships, 131 for fellowships, 231 for scholarships and 73 for student support. Of the $2 billion raised thus far, nearly $460 million has been contributed to endowments that will generate support in perpetuity.
More than 226,000 donors have contributed to the campaign, with gifts ranging from a few dollars to more than $100 million. Alumni have accounted for about 18 percent of donations in the current fiscal year, with corporations and foundations giving 20 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
“Campaign UW already has had a huge impact on the UW, by assuring that the University remains competitive with its peer institutions and is able to sustain high-quality education and research,” says UW President Mark A. Emmert, ’75. “We are tremendously grateful to everyone who has helped us reach this point in the campaign and a bit overwhelmed by the generosity of our donors.”
“By contributing to the campaign, individuals feel part of something that enhances our community,” says William Gates Sr. ’49, ’50, chair of Campaign UW.
“The core of our fund-raising goals for the remainder of the campaign,” Gates says, “will be money for scholarships for the neediest students. Extending the campaign goal allows us to reach out to a greater number of students who otherwise would not be able to afford higher education.”