With financially rocky times on the horizon, the University has taken steps to acquire financial backing the state can’t afford, and it is engaging in a comprehensive fundraising campaign to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.
Vice President for University Advancement Allan Price said the campaign began shortly after the University’s 125th anniversary and is expected to end in five years. Price said a final financial goal for the campaign has not been set yet; instead, benchmarks have been set at different points throughout the campaign. By July 2001, $125 million had been raised.
As part of the campaign, faculty and staff from every department were asked to submit wish-lists of projects the money should fund. Some of the most popular ideas included endowed professorships, student scholarships, new fields of study, and capital for renovating and constructing new buildings. However, more than $2 billion worth of ideas were suggested — more money than the University could ever raise, Price said.
“While a lot of ideas may be good ideas, they may not be feasible as far as donor interests,” Price said. “If something is really important but there’s no donor out there, it doesn’t make sense to make it a campaign priority.”
University Foundation spokeswoman Ann Mack said this is the second comprehensive fundraising campaign the University has held in the last decade. The Oregon Campaign ran from 1992 to 1998 and raised $255.3 million. During the campaign, the University increased its annual fundraising from $15 million to $35 million per year.
“It was the most successful private funding campaign in the history of the University,” Mack said.
Despite the University’s increased drive to acquire donations, the comprehensive fundraising campaign is still in its infancy stage because the University hasn’t decided what projects they’re specifically asking donors to fund. However, a committee composed of faculty, administration, staff and students has been formed to help in setting priorities.
Biology Professor Nathan Tublitz, along with fellow Internal Campaign Advisory Committee members, will review more than 300 proposals and suggest important ways to spend fundraising money. Tublitz said he has already read through all of the proposals, and now the challenge is to organize and prioritize them before making suggestions to University President Dave Frohnmayer on how to set campaign prerogatives.
Price said the money raised through the comprehensive fundraising campaign is not meant to be a bandage for the University’s uncertain financial future. He added the state provides less than 18 percent of the University’s overall budget, and potential donors are not impressed by an appeal for funds. Price said the University needs to weather the current and projected budget crisis in order to sustain philanthropic interest in the University.
“The challenge is how to keep the University operating at a high enough level that donors see us as a good investment opportunity,” Price said.