Fundraising News

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.

From modest beginnings in 1855, Michigan State University has grown into a renowned land-grant institution on the strength of its people and their pride in its mission. With global reach and a research and education program of international distinction and infinite possibilities, MSU continues to serve as a touchstone for alumni and friends.

Today, individuals and organizations making private contributions are key to MSU's continued success. Beginning with the Donor Wall of Honor located in the lobby of Kellogg Center and continuing with the addition of several college and unit recognition displays, MSU has long realized that public recognition of major donors to the university is an important part of both stewarding our current donors as well as welcoming new ones. In 2000, the Kellogg Center wall was "closed" due to a lack of additional space and has since served as recognition of significant donors of the 20th century. Then in 2005, as The Campaign for MSU was nearing its conclusion, MSU began looking for a unified way to not only recognize the important donors of our past, but to create a means of honoring donors well into our future.

Now that The Campaign for MSU has drawn to a close, the university has launched a new phase of donor recognition - one that will honor a new generation of donors who realize the important role that private support plays at this university. Benefactors Plaza, officially dedicated on October 5, 2007, is a tribute to the many whose significant financial gifts touch lives, encourage growth, and stimulate never ending progress at this extraordinary institution. Their generosity is profoundly appreciated.

The Designers

Four years ago, after a decade of using the traditional means of applying image to ceramics, Professor Brian Boldon, faculty in the Department of Art and Art History, investigated a new European technology which translates a digital file into ceramic enamels. In collaboration with artist/photographer Amy Baur, their company, In Plain Sight Art, has now designed and produced site-specific public art installations nationwide. Their expertise with this technology is an innovative use of photography integrating architectural materials and forming a new language for visual art in public spaces.

For Benefactors Plaza, fifty-six original designs were created for the fourteen donor recognition columns. Imagery representing the breadth of academic study and research at Michigan State University was critical to the conception of the artwork. While each face design is unique, unifying the entire site and connecting how these columns reside in the plaza was important to In Plain Sight Art. Four overriding hues were designed that reference the four seasons. In varying degrees of opacity, these tonalities of color visually connect the columns from north, south, east and west views.

Benefactors Plaza is located along the pedestrian walkway adjacent to the Old Horticulture Garden. This location has both historic context and helps fulfill a master plan recommendation for enhancing the open space along this important pedestrian corridor.

The Campaign for MSU is clearly the high point of private fundraising at Michigan State University. MSU has arrived at this historic time through a combination of the generosity of individuals and organizations and the collective effort of every campus unit, administrator and volunteer both on campus and around the country. To fully understand the context of The Campaign for MSU, consider the history of private philanthropy at the university.

There are examples of early gifts to MSU that perhaps set the stage for what was to come. Frank S. Kedzie, who served as the university?s eighth president from 1915 to 1921, is recognized as the driving force behind early alumni involvement. In his first year as president, he encouraged alumni contributions and student pledges to construct the Union Memorial Building, built a decade later. During Kedzie's presidency, R. E. Olds gave $100,000 toward the construction of Olds Hall, a new engineering hall to replace the engineering building that burned down on the same site. It was the first private donation toward a campus building. Then there is the historic contribution of John W. Beaumont. With a desire to build a tower on the site of the old College Hall, the first building on campus, Beaumont, a successful lawyer and MAC graduate, funded the construction of the tower entirely through personal donations. Completed in 1928, Beaumont Tower now stands as one of the most beloved symbols of MSU.

In the 1960s, MSU realized the need to establish a more formal process to coordinate private gifts, providing alumni and friends of the university a resource through which donations could be directed. While these beginnings were relatively modest, by the 1980s there were enough donors willing to support MSU that the university launched its first official capital campaign called MSU2000. The goal of the campaign was set at $160 million, and scores of generous donors pushed the final tally to more than $217 million.

Fast forward to 2002 when MSU announced what was the most ambitious fundraising campaign in its history. After quietly raising funds from leadership donors, The Campaign for MSU formally kicked into high gear with a goal of $1.2 billion. Sub goals of $450 million for endowment and $250 million in documented planned gifts were set. Would the alumni and friends of MSU take the campaign to heart and reach these lofty goals? The answer was a resounding YES!

Each and every category of giving rose dramatically during the course of the campaign. It has been an unprecedented achievement, bringing to MSU resources needed to triumph in a multitude of areas. Individually, all gifts given during The Campaign for MSU have had a positive impact on students, faculty, facilities and research efforts. Collectively, these same contributions have transformed MSU and the culture of giving that exists here.

A total of $1,438,894,789 was raised between July 1, 1999 and Sept. 30, 2007. MSU surpassed its $250 million planned gift goal, raising $346.6 million during this campaign. The endowment goal of $450 million was perhaps the most significant stretch goal set during The Campaign for MSU. A total of $476.1 million was raised for this purpose.

For the five-year period prior to campaign kickoff, the average annual amount raised by MSU was just under $80.5 million. In addition, only 30% of our annual gifts were from alumni and other individuals. During this campaign period, the average annual amount raised by MSU has nearly doubled, and the percent of support from alumni and friends has grown to nearly 50% of the total dollars raised.

At the start of the campaign, MSU had a total of 1,209 planned gifts documented with a future value of just over $190 million. By the close of the campaign, that amount had grown to more than 1,650 planned gifts documented with a value of nearly $500 million in future support. Finally, in the university's history prior to the campaign, MSU had received 118 gifts of $1 million or more. During The Campaign for MSU alone, more than 200 gifts of $1 million or more were documented with a cumulative total of nearly $700 million.

As of July 1, 1999, 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 now being ranked 7 of 11 among the Big Ten in endowment size.

Faculty, staff and retirees of MSU have always been generous donors to the university, but during the campaign, giving reached new 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 has truly been an historic time at Michigan State University, as the entire MSU family embraced The Campaign for MSU with enthusiasm. Donors have enabled MSU to experience a transformation, and in the future, everyone touched in some way by the accomplishments of this great university can thank those who achieved these incredible results.