Annual report on giving

Gifts to the U were up 42 percent last year

Gifts to the U provide scholarship support to thousands of students.

Photo by Mitch Kezar

From M, winter 2004

Charitable giving to the University amounted to a record $234 million in fiscal year 2003--a 42 percent increase over the previous year. The annual report on giving to the U was presented to the Board of Regents in November by Gerald B. Fischer, president and CEO of the University of Minnesota Foundation, which oversees University fundraising.

The record level of giving came in the final year of Campaign Minnesota, the U's historic seven-year drive that raised $1.66 billion. Fischer said the 2003 level of giving was "a tremendously gratifying result in a difficult financial environment for many of our donors."

Gifts in fiscal year 2003 came from 78,731 donors, also a record. Of those, 40,129 were University alumni, accounting for more than half of all donors and representing an increase of 7.2 percent in alumni donors from the previous year and 15 percent from just two years ago. Gifts were also received from more than 4,600 faculty and staff members.

More alumni are giving to the U
The number of alumni giving to the University of Minnesota has grown to 40,129--a 15 percent increase in just two years.

Alumni from all parts of the United States, and even overseas, are supporting their alma mater.

After Minnesota, the highest concentrations of alumni donors are in Wisconsin and California.

And alumni support almost everything imaginable, with gifts for academic programs, scholarships, and fellowships being by far the most common designations.

Growth in alumni giving
FY01: 34,858
FY02: 37,431
FY03: 40,129

All of those donors together accounted for more than 75,000 gifts to the U last year, including 45 gifts of $1 million or more. By far the largest number of gifts--more than 66,000--were for less than $500.

The University's cost to raise a dollar dropped in the last fiscal year to just 9 cents, which is significantly below national averages.

For more information on charitable contributions to the U, please see www.giving.umn.edu