Half of donations will go to endowment fund
About $300 million the university collected will be invested, and it will spend only the interest.
Published Sept. 23, 2005
About half of the $600 million collected by the university for the "For All We Call Mizzou" fundraising drive will be put into endowment funds, while the remaining half will be spent on current projects, said Linda L'Hote, executive director of University Development.
The university plans to spend only the interest accrued by the money placed in the endowment funds, L'Hote said.
"This is going to guarantee future success for the university," L'Hote said.
On Sept 17, Chancellor Brady Deaton announced the fundraising drive would be expanded to raise $1 billion.
The campaign collects funding for the 14 MU schools and colleges, MU Libraries, the athetic department and "campus support."
Prospective donors have the option to give to specific programs or to the university in general, L'Hote said. General donations go into an "unrestricted fund."
The chancellor, along with academic leaders, determines the use of these unrestricted funds based on priority, L'Hote said. However, this is an infrequent occurrence, she said.
"One of the biggest misconceptions out there is that this is an unrestricted fund," L'Hote said. "Less than one percent is unrestricted. The rest is to a specific department."
The dean of each school distributes any funds donated without a specific purpose.
Funds from the campaign have created 385 scholarships and 63 new endowed faculty positions, L'Hote said.
As the second leg of the campaign begins, several departments have not yet reached their contribution goals.
According to a Sept. 2 report published by University Development on their "For All We Call Mizzou" Web site, five of the 16 departments failed to reach more than 75 percent of their goals. The College of Arts and Science only reached 71 percent of its $35 million goal, and MU Libraries only accomplished 50 percent of their $8 million goal.
University Development will aid the university departments that failed to reach their individual goals by introducing them to alumni and prospective donors.
"We are also giving them more help to identify corporations and foundations who might support these priorities," L'Hote said.
Three departments significantly surpassed their goals, L'Hote said. The athletic department almost doubled its goal by raising more than $50 million. Health schools managed to exceed expectations through donations to the School of Health Professions and the School of Nursing. The School of Medicine, however, only collected 67 percent of its goal by the end of August.