With an ambitious overall goal to raise $1.2 billion during The Campaign for MSU, Michigan State University announced today that donors had far surpassed the university's expectations by committing a total of $1.439 billion during the campaign. Following a three year silent phase to the campaign, the MSU Board of Trustees announced at a public launch on September 20, 2002 the overall goal which included the priorities of adding $450 million in endowment gifts and documenting at least $250 million in planned gifts. Officially, the campaign concluded on September 30, 2007, and in addition to the overall goal, MSU exceeded the endowment goal with $476.1 million raised and shattered the planned giving goal with $346.6 million pledged in planned gifts. "The response to this campaign was extraordinary. Michigan State alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and retirees clearly showed their commitment to the mission and values of this great institution," said President Lou Anna K. Simon. "Their enormous generosity will help secure the future for the next generation of Spartans and position MSU to meet the global challenges of the 21st century." Joel Ferguson, chairman of the Board of Trustees, recognized the importance of the announcement. "We have come so far since the Board of Trustees announced the lofty goal of $1.2 billion," he said. "Successfully raising over $1.4 billion is a great accomplishment for MSU." In the university's history prior to the campaign, MSU had received just over 100 gifts of $1 million or more. During The Campaign for MSU alone, over 200 gifts of $1 million or more were documented with a cumulative total of nearly $700 million. "Raising over a billion dollars is a most noteworthy accomplishment," said Roy Muir of Marts and Lundy, who is serving as MSU's campaign counsel. "MSU is one of a handful of public universities to raise that amount without the added fundraising benefit of a major on-campus medical research center. To hit the $1.4 billion mark is even more impressive." For the five-year period prior to campaign kickoff, only 30% of annual gifts were from alumni and other individuals. During this campaign period, the percent of support from alumni and friends has grown to nearly 50% of the total dollars raised. "Increasing our endowment was a key focus of the campaign," stated MSU Vice President for University Development Charles H. Webb. Endowment is a means of investing funds, spending only a portion of the interest earned and growing the principal, which in turn ensures that funding for faculty and student needs will continue in perpetuity. "At the start of the campaign," noted Webb, "MSU's net endowment portfolio was valued at $488 million, ranking at the bottom of the Big Ten in endowment size. Coupled with exceptional investment management by the Office of Investments & Financial Management, the generosity of donors has resulted in MSU?s net endowment reaching $1.631 billion." "The university-wide commitment to The Campaign for MSU, including the hard work and support from the academic leadership and staff of each of the university?s colleges and programs, has transformed and enriched MSU," President Simon said. Through current and future gifts, other endowment successes include: nearly 100 new endowments, with a total value of more than $100 million, were established in support of chairs, professorships and other faculty funds; forty endowments, with a total value of nearly $17 million, were established to support faculty and student research initiatives; over 425 new endowments, with a value of more than $150 million, were created to support a variety of programs across the university, including discretionary endowments for areas of greatest need or promise; and more than 1,000 new endowments, with a value of more than $205 million, were established to support undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships and other student-related funds. These endowments, when fully funded, will bring additional resources to a variety of units across campus. At the start of the campaign, MSU had a total of 1,209 planned gifts documented at a value of just over $190 million. By the close of the campaign, the university had a total of 1,650 planned gifts documented at a value of nearly $500 million in future support. During the campaign over $140 million was raised to support - either fully or in part - construction and renovation of 18 MSU facilities. This includes, but is not limited to: Delia Koo International Academic Center, Lyman Briggs Student Laboratories, Marshall-Adams Hall renovation, Matilda R. Wilson Pegasus Critical Care Center, Secchia Center, James B. Henry Executive Development Center, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, and Alfred Berkowitz Basketball Complex. Another area of note is that while the faculty, staff and retirees of MSU have always been generous donors to the university, during the campaign, their giving levels reached record highs. In the end, more than $85 million - or 6% of the total - was given by those closest to the work being accomplished at MSU. This shows that the people closest to this great university are some of its strongest supporters.
