Indiana University

News Release

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Last modified: Wednesday, September 17, 2008

IU received $408.6 million, setting a record for private sector support

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 17, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie announced today (Sept. 17) that IU received a record $408.6 million in private sector support in fiscal year 2008.

The sum of gifts from donors and non-governmental research grants -- called Total Voluntary Support -- exceeds IU's previous record, set in 2005, by $107.6 million.

The FY 2008 Total Voluntary Support sum for IU includes $251.4 million in gifts made to the IU Foundation, $36.3 million in gifts to the Riley Children's Foundation and an additional $120.9 million from non-governmental contracts and research grant awards.

The gifts through the IU Foundation and Riley Children's Foundation were the highest on record. The nongovernmental grants total was the second highest on record.

"This high level of support reflects the faith of our donors in Indiana University's ability to contribute to the educational and economic future of the state," McRobbie said. "We are very grateful for these gifts, which are enabling us to achieve our goals for excellence in teaching and research, and to ensure that the doors to an IU education will always be open to the best and brightest students with a diversity of backgrounds, regardless of their economic circumstances."

McRobbie said he is especially pleased that nearly 40 percent of the gifts made through the IU Foundation were designated by donors for student scholarships and fellowships on all campuses.

IU Bloomington's Matching the Promise fundraising campaign has resulted in $246 million for scholarships and fellowships since its inception in 2003. A portion of these funds is helping in-state students with the greatest financial need to attend the Bloomington campus nearly free, contributing to the largest and best qualified freshmen class in history, added McRobbie.

Additionally, the IUPUI campus has dedicated $2.1 million to need-based student aid, the largest such commitment in the history of the Indianapolis campus.

Among the scholarship gifts received by the IU Foundation was an estate gift of $77 million from the late Jesse H. and Beulah C. Cox, said Eugene R. Tempel, president of the Indiana University Foundation. The Coxes had contributed $15 million during their lifetimes to establish the Cox Scholars Program and the Cox Student Research Scholarships for undergraduates on the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses.

"Their combined gift of $92 million is the largest ever received for student support at Indiana University," Tempel said. "These funds will help more than 300 students a year."

Other major gifts came from the Lilly Endowment, which contributed $69 million in fiscal 2008. Of these funds, $44 million will pay for the construction of the Jacobs School of Music's new North studio building; the gift is the largest ever received for IU's arts programs. The School of Law--Bloomington received $25 million to hire and retain world-class faculty as part of its goal to become one of the premier public law schools in the United States.

Ora Pescovitz, M.D., interim vice president for research administration for Indiana University, said, "I want to commend faculty members at every campus of Indiana University for the outstanding and important work that attracts the commitment of grant makers in the private sector.

"Philanthropic support enables us to generate the resources that attract both private-sector and federal grants," continued Pescovitz, who also is chief executive officer of Riley Children's Hospital and executive associate dean for research affairs at the IU School of Medicine. "For every dollar in extramural federal funding that IU attracts for research, it costs the university at least an additional 20 cents on the dollar to generate the resources to attract those funds. It is only because of the generosity of philanthropic support that we are able to compete with the nation's other top research universities for these highly competitive dollars and research opportunities. This support enables us to recruit and retain top investigators and to equip them with state of the art research facilities."

For 16 of the last 18 years, IU has ranked in the top 20 of all the universities in the nation in Total Voluntary Support. In 2007, IU's private support total was ranked 19th in the country, seventh among public institutions and fourth among Big Ten schools. Rankings based on fiscal 2008 numbers will be released early in 2009.


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