|
Recent stories about
philanthropy at WSU: |
PULLMAN, Wash. – As of Sept. 30, The Campaign for WSU was outpacing projections. To say thank you, WSU students and employees prepared a short video for release on National Philanthropy Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 15.
More than 145,000 donors have committed more than $632 million – or 63 percent – of the $1 billion campaign goal of The Campaign for Washington State University: Because the World Needs Big Ideas. The campaign is the largest single fundraising effort in WSU history.
“The outpouring of support during the campaign to benefit WSU’s students and faculty, and to help power the university’s academic, research and outreach innovations, has been truly remarkable,” said Elson S. Floyd, WSU president.
“National Philanthropy Day provides us another opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks for what our supporters are doing to help WSU now and in the future,” he said. “We really are talking about changing lives.”
The video features students and employees from the Pullman, Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver campuses. It is being distributed electronically to all donors – alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends – who have made gifts in support of WSU during the campaign.
Gifts, grants and pledges have been made from individuals, private businesses, foundations and organizations to benefit WSU’s students, faculty, programs, teaching, research and scholarship. More than 445,000 gifts have been recorded during the campaign, which is planned to continue until 2015.
Endowed gifts, which provide a reliable source of future funding, have been a focus of the campaign. Donors have contributed $82.6 million to the university’s endowment, which stands at $301.7 million.
Nearly half of those contributions are gifts to endowed scholarships and fellowships; 245 new scholarships and 26 new graduate fellowships have been established. In addition, 20 new endowed faculty chairs and professorships have been created.
The campaign, which began July 1, 2006, was publicly launched in a celebration on Dec. 2, 2010, with the announcement of a $26 million gift from WSU alumnus and Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen to support the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health.
Other notable commitments include $25 million to support the School for Global Animal Health, from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and $27 million, from state apple and pear growers, to support tree fruit research.