New records set for private giving to Indiana University

August 2, 2000

EDITORS: A chart on gift, donor and invested assets figures for the past 5 years is attached.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. B Private giving for Indiana University has reached an all-time high. The record-breaking numbers were announced today (Aug. 2) by Curt Simic, president of the Indiana University Foundation.

In fiscal year 2000, nearly $109 million was contributed to the IU Foundation, up from $75.4 million last year. For the first time, more than 100,000 donors contributed and the market value of managed investments surpassed $1 billion.

"These phenomenal numbers resulted from the hard work of IU development staff as well as foundation staff and from the excellence of the faculty and students, who create an institution that people want to support with their gifts. We could not be happier," Simic said.

Gifts increased the most dramatically, by 44 percent. "We received a very generous gift from the Lilly Endowment last year to support technology infrastructure on the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses," said Simic. "Even without that gift, however, our numbers were up."

There were 742 more donors in 1999-00, enough to put the number over 100,000 for the first time.

On June 30, 1999, the market value of managed investments stood at $943.9 million. A year later, it had reached $1.06 billion. "A good economy, additional gifts of endowment from far-sighted donors and an aggressive but prudent investment strategy were key to crossing this threshold, Simic said.

The IU Foundation is the not-for-profit corporation designated by the Trustees of IU as its official fund-raising organization. The foundation raises funds from the private sector, invests assets and administers gift accounts for all eight campuses of IU.

For nine of the last 10 years, IU has been ranked in the top 20 nationally by the Council for Aid to Education, in terms of total voluntary support, the aggregate of gifts and non-governmental research grants. In each of the last 10 years, IU has been ranked by the National Association of College and University Business Officers in the top 15 among public universities in the size of its endowment.

(Barbara Coffman (IUF), 812-855-1422, coffman@indiana.edu or George Vlahakis (OCM), 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)

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