PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 23, No. 8, Oct. 16, 2003

FY03: UI and UI Foundation receive $168 million in private gifts

Gifts to the UI and the UI Foundation for the fiscal year that ended June 30, totaled $168 million, according to Stephen K. Rugg, UI chief financial officer and treasurer of the UI Foundation. Of the $168 million received, $44.5 million was given directly to the UI and $123.5 million was contributed through the foundation, the private gift arm of the university.

Rugg announced the private gift figures at the UI Foundation’s 68th annual meeting, held Oct. 10. Prefacing his report, Rugg commented on the budget for the entire university. “Twenty-five years ago, almost half of the university’s total budget came from state taxes. If that were true today, the impact of the state’s economic malaise would be much, much greater than it has been so far. Over the past 25 years, however, we have been able to diversify the major sources of budget support in significant ways. Today, state tax support comprises less than a quarter of the university’s total support. As any chief financial officer will tell you, diversifying your support base is a good thing.”

Corporations contributed the largest share at 37 percent ($62.5 million), with alumni contributing 22 percent ($37.7 million), foundations at 21 percent ($34.9 million), friends of the university at 13 percent ($21.2 million), and associations contributing 7 percent ($11.7 million).

Allocation of the funds, as designated by donors:

• $43 million for research
• $30 million for other restricted purposes
• $29.8 million to the university’s endowment
• $22.2 million for academic units and programs
• $12.8 million for buildings and equipment
• $10.6 million for public service and extension
• $5.2 million for athletics
• More than $3.3 million for student financial aid.
• $2.7 million for faculty/staff compensation

Of the $168 million received last year, 78 percent ($131.6 million) was designated by donors for current use. Eighteen percent or $29.8 million was invested in endowed funds, whose earnings help support an array of university endeavors, including student financial aid, faculty and program support. Such investments also provide specified annuity and life-income funds for many donors.

The university’s combined active and deferred endowment stood at nearly $1.4 billion as of June 30, more than three times what it was 10 years ago. The active endowment, 66 percent of the university’s endowment picture, grew to $904.4 million at the end of last fiscal year.

Also included in the UI’s total endowment is $359.9 million designated as revocable deferred gifts. Another $132.5 million of the endowment is in charitable trusts and other irrevocable gifts held by the foundation and others.

Private gifts to the UI and the foundation of testamentary commitments and irrevocable life-income arrangements also have risen dramatically over the last decade, Rugg said. Testamentary commitments – deferred gifts made through bequests, life insurance, retirement accounts and other plans – rose from $128.4 million to $368.2 million. Irrevocable life income arrangements, such as charitable trusts and annuities, to benefit Illinois during the same period rose from 262 gift commitments of $44.5 million in 1993 to 635 gift commitments of $132.6 million in 2003.

Membership in the Presidents Council, the university’s highest donor-recognition program administered by the UI Foundation – minimum $15,000 gift – also has grown. Rugg said membership in the Presidents Council rose from 3,685 people 10 years ago to 8,821 in 2003.

“Two areas,” Rugg said, “that have become much more prominent sources of university support are grants and contracts from all sources – federal and corporate research and development grants and private gifts from donors. The R&D success of this university is testimony to the extraordinary scholarship and productivity of the UI faculty. In very real ways, our faculty members are not only the creators of our intellectual capital, they are responsible for a sizeable portion of our operating capital.

“While we’ve done well at diversifying our sources of support, not all of our dollars are equally flexible. In fact, the vast majority of those gift, grant and contract dollars are highly restricted by the terms and conditions established by the grantor or donor,” Rugg said in exploring the university’s total budget by function.

“Almost 95 percent of our spending on direct teaching comes from taxes or tuition. Two critical areas of instructional support – libraries and the operation and maintenance of our campus physical plants – also are very heavily dependent on tax and tuition support. In sharp contrast, the bulk of our research activities are funded from grants and contracts – areas much less affected by dips in the state’s economy or our share of the state budget.”

Gifts of more than $15 million to benefit Urbana-Champaign, Springfield campuses
Gifts totaling more than $15 million for programs at UI’s Urbana-Champaign and Springfield campuses were announced Oct. 10 at the UI Foundation’s Annual Meeting on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

Those recognized for donations benefiting the Urbana campus:

• A gift of $500,000 from William A. and Carol L. Chittenden of Elmhurst will fund a fellowship and graduate award in the department of general engineering as well as a scholarship and fellowship in kinesiology. The fellowships will promote collaborative, interdisciplinary research between the departments.
• Vodafone, the U.K.-based telecommunications and networking company, has awarded $3.3 million to the College of Engineering. One of the largest foreign grants for a U.S. university, it will establish and maintain the Vodafone-U.S. Foundation Fellows Initiative, aimed at developing U.S. support for academics in the advancement of wireless technology.
• A gift of $1.5 million from Intel co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Gordon Moore and a group of UI engineering alumni associated with Intel have created the Intel Alumni Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering. James Coleman, professor of electrical and computer engineering, was honored as the holder of Intel Alumni Chair in a ceremony last month.
• The Pew Charitable Trusts, based in Philadelphia, has awarded a two-year, $5.8 million grant to the School of Social Work’s Children and Family Research Center. The grant will fund the activities of Fostering Results, a public education and outreach campaign designed to call attention to federal financing of child welfare and family court issues to improve the safety and well being of children in the child welfare system. School of Social Work professors Jess McDonald, Mark Testa and Nancy Salyers will lead the project.
• A $1 million commitment coupled with current gifts from Suzanne and David Martin-Reay of Idaho Falls, Idaho, supports scholarships in International Programs and Studies.
• A bequest of $1.2 million from the late Glenn Ullyot and his wife, Barbara, of Annapolis, Md., will endow fellowships in the School of Chemical Sciences and the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
• An estate gift of about $1 million from Thomas Hubbard of Peoria, Ariz., will promote excellence in the School of Architecture.
  n A seven-figure estate gift from Jim and Dena Vermette of Champaign will provide support scholarships for members of the men’s varsity baseball team, helping the Alumni Association construct the Alumni Center, scholarly activities in the College of Business and/or the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and support for Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and the Spurlock Museum.

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