'The Campaign for MSU' passes $1 billion milestone

Contact: Terry Denbow, Vice President for University Relations, (517) 355-2262, denbow@msu.edu

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University announced today that “The Campaign for MSU,” an ambitious fund-raising project that began nearly three years ago, has surpassed the $1 billion mark.

The project, publicly launched by the MSU Board of Trustees on Sept. 20, 2002, had set a goal to reach $1.2 billion by 2007.

“Passing this important milestone is a true testament to the belief that our alumni, friends, corporations, foundations and our own faculty, staff and retirees have in the future of Michigan State University,” said MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon. “And while we cannot lose focus on reaching the overall campaign goal of raising $1.2 billion by 2007, it is important that we take this time to celebrate our accomplishments to date.”

“MSU is now among an elite group of universities which have reached the milestone of raising $1 billion from private sources,” said MSU Vice President for University Development Charles H. Webb. “And among those universities, we are only the third public university, along with Berkeley and Purdue, to reach that amount without the added fund-raising benefit of a major on-campus medical/research center. This is an accomplishment of which we all can be very proud.”

One of the areas of focus for “The Campaign for MSU” is to raise much-needed money for endowment. Endowments are an excellent way to acknowledge the outstanding education offered at MSU. In endowed funds, the total amount of a gift is invested. Each year, only a portion of the invested income earned is spent while the remainder adds to principal growth. In this respect, an endowment is a perpetual gift, and university administrators are stressing the need to continually increase funds designated as endowment. A sub-goal of “The Campaign for MSU” is to add $450 million to MSU's endowment, and, so far, $274.5 million has been raised.

“So much has been accomplished since the start of the campaign,” Webb said. “We have had new buildings constructed, old buildings renovated, numerous new scholarships created, key faculty additions, improvements in laboratories and other spaces for students. It is truly incredible the amount of enthusiasm we have seen and the level of generosity among our alumni, friends and individuals, as well as corporations and foundations. Now, we need to keep moving forward to reach and exceed the $1.2 billion goal, and to meet our endowment and planned-giving goals.”

A sign of the progress made in fund raising over the past several years has been the increasing number of gifts of $1 million or more given to the university each year. Since July 1999 when the campaign's silent phase began, the university has received 27 gifts in excess of $5 million, and another 120 gifts in excess of $1 million. These donors alone have given more than $650 million to Michigan State University . In addition, the faculty, staff and retirees of MSU have contributed more than $54 million during this campaign and their participation rate is at the top in the Big Ten every year.

“These results would not have been possible without the continued hard work and support of the academic leadership and staff of each of the university's colleges and programs,” Simon said. “It's a team effort, and I thank deans, directors, faculty and staff for all of their hard work. Our job is far from done, but this is certainly a milestone worth celebrating.”