University of Washington tops its $2.5 billion fundraising goal
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Clay Holtzman Staff Writer
Barely a year after reaching and then extending the goal of its $2.5 billion "Creating Futures" fundraising campaign, the University of Washington has again conquered its latest fundraising peak.
At a UW Foundation meeting on Jan. 25, campaign chairman and UW Regent William Gates Sr. told board members the university's campaign stands at $2.522 billion. The university still has five months to go until the scheduled end of its campaign.
Unlike last year, when it increased its original $2 billion fundraising goal by $500 million, the university says it has no plans to extend the current goal. However, the UW will continue to raise money for specific programs such as student scholarships.
During the campaign, more than 246,000 individuals have donated to the UW. When the campaign started in 2000, about 50,000 donated annually to the university. Last year, that number rose to 105,000.
To date, the university's leading fundraising "units" have been medicine, arts and sciences, engineering, business and athletics. Each of the UW's fundraising units is above 90 percent of its goal.
But some units have far exceeded their campaign goals. The School of Social Work has raised more than $20 million and is the only unit to double its campaign goal.
"It's kind of a Cinderella story," said Kimberly Issac, director of development at the School of Social Work.
That school, like many others at the UW, has been transformed by the campaign. In 2000, the school had 11 endowed funds totaling $3.1 million. Now, the school anticipates having 36 endowed funds by June and the current market value of its combined endowments is $10.3 million.
The School of Social Work's fundraising got a big boost in 2006 when Connie Ballmer and her husband, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, pledged to donate $10 million to start Partners for Our Children, an agency that taps public, private and nonprofit resources to aid Washington's child welfare system. Connie Ballmer is chair of the new agency.
Contact: choltzman@bizjournals.com • 206-876-5439
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