The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received $277 million in gifts from private donors in fiscal 2011.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received $277 million in gifts from private donors in fiscal 2011.
In commitments for the fiscal year, which ended June 30, the University secured $305.6 million. Commitments include pledges as well as gifts.
Both totals were up from the previous fiscal year. Gifts rose 3.3 percent, from $268.1 million, and commitments increased 5 percent, from $292 million.
“Our donors remain incredibly loyal,” said Matt Kupec, vice chancellor for university advancement. “We’re very grateful for their support. Without it, we couldn’t provide the same experience for our students, faculty and staff, and our service to North Carolina would be diminished.”
Examples of gifts and commitments from fiscal 2011:
- A $3.63 million gift from The Blackstone Charitable Foundation of New York City will create the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, a five-year initiative to help North Carolina’s Research Triangle become headquarters for America’s next high-growth companies with the greatest potential to create new jobs. Carolina will join partner schools Duke University, North Carolina Central University and North Carolina State University, as well as the Durham-based Council for Entrepreneurial Development, in the effort. The program will draw from the ranks of veteran master entrepreneurs to identify marketable innovations out of area universities and regional start-ups with the greatest potential to become high-growth companies, and then help them get started.
- A $1.63 million grant from the Local Government Federal Credit Union will fund School of Government initiatives that will make it easier for North Carolina’s economically distressed communities to get new projects off the ground and give public officials the executive training they need. The Development Finance Initiative will receive $1 million to increase the capacity of local governments and development nonprofits to leverage private investment through tax credit programs, self-financing bonds, special assessment districts and loan programs. The remaining funds will support creation of the LGFCU Fellows Program. This program will provide mid-level public executives, many of whom have risen through the ranks of local government service departments without executive training, with the skills to develop and manage programs and people. The grant supported the Innovate@Carolina Campaign, a $125 million drive to help make Carolina a world leader in launching university-born ideas for the good of society.
- A $1 million gift from David Kittner and the Samuel and Rebecca Kardon Foundations will establish the Kittner Family Distinguished Professorship Fund in the Department of Ophthalmology in the UNC School of Medicine, creating the department’s largest professorship fund. This is their second $1 million gift to the department in the last five years. In 2008, they established an endowed innovation fund that the department has used to expand patient services, educational programs and clinical research projects and activities. Kittner, a 1939 UNC graduate, practices law in Philadelphia, Pa., where the Samuel and Rebecca Kardon Foundations also are based.
- A $500,000 pledge from Howard R. Levine, a UNC alumnus and chairman and CEO of Family Dollar Stores Inc., has created an endowment to support undergraduate and graduate students in Jewish studies at his alma mater. The Howard R. Levine Student Excellence Fund in Jewish Studies will support academic studies and scholarly research. When fully funded, the endowment will provide the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences with a permanent source of funding to further the center’s teaching mission.
- A $200,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City will enable theater ensembles to develop new works in residencies with PlayMakers Repertory Company. The grant is funding residencies over the next three years for each of the three ensembles. PlayMakers will provide artistic, technical and administrative support for the ensembles as they create new theater pieces. Pig Iron Theatre Company of Philadelphia came in May 2011, and SITI Company and The TEAM of New York City will be the ensembles in-residence in 2012 and 2013. The ensembles will take their creations, incubated at PlayMakers, on to performances around the world.
- A $1.5 million commitment from an anonymous donor has created a new Global Gap Year Fellowship Program that gives incoming students the opportunity to spend a year in international service before their first year at Carolina. The program provides financial support to new high school graduates who wish to defer their matriculation to the University for a year to pursue a combination of work, travel and volunteer service, where at least one component will be international. Intended to build on the University’s burgeoning public service, global education and entrepreneurial climate, these nine-month fellowships provide a stipend for travel, living expenses, program and other associated fees to recipients. The program also provides support to help students integrate their gap experiences into academic and extra-curricular life upon entering Carolina.
- A grant from the Triad Foundation First Generation Fund will enable the Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program, or C-STEP, to expand to Central Carolina Community College. C-STEP identifies talented low- to moderate-income students while they are still in high school or early in their community-college careers and guarantees their eventual admission to Carolina if they earn an appropriate associate degree and complete the program. The program also offers special events and advising for students, both at their home college and at Carolina, while they are pursuing their associate degrees. Central Carolina Community College is the sixth partner school to join C-STEP.
Commitments in 2011 also helped the University create 11 endowed professorships, as well as a total of 77 undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships. Carolina had more than 77,000 donors for the year.
Link: http://giving.unc.edu/index.htm
Development Communications contact: Scott Ragland, (919) 962-0027, scott_ragland@unc.edu
News Services contact: Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8593, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu