Washington State University Tops $54.1 Million in Private Support

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University ended fiscal year 2006 with a 9.1 percent increase in private support over the previous fiscal year. The university reached its second highest mark in the WSU Foundation’s 27-year history with $54,116,173 in gifts and private grants during FY 2006, which ended June 30.

“Private support is critical to our ability to achieve our goals as a university.  It enables us to offer scholarships for deserving students, carry out cutting-edge research, attract and retain top faculty, and provide the margin of excellence across outstanding programs at Washington State University,” said WSU President V. Lane Rawlins. “The commitment to excellence demonstrated by the more than 53,000 donors this past year is truly remarkable.”

The WSU Foundation attributes its success in FY 2006 to several factors, including the university’s strong leadership and progress in recent years.

“The university has seen an unprecedented period of growth and quality under the leadership of its last three presidents,” said Mikal Thomsen, chair of the WSU Foundation Board of Governors. “This growth in quality, combined with a loyal alumni base and a renewed commitment to efficiency and professionalism in generating private support on the part of the WSU Foundation, significantly influenced the level of success we experienced this past year.”

Among the many highlights of private support in FY 2006 was the creation of the largest endowed chair in Washington State University‘s history. The fulfillment of a $3 million pledge from John W. (Jack) and Janet M. Creighton established the Corps of Discovery Endowed Chair in the Department of History. The department’s first endowed chair will be used to attract a top faculty expert in the history of the American West and will help fund symposia, travel and graduate study related to the field.

“The Corps of Discovery Chair should be transformational in the field of American West history because WSU’s history department has been strong in that field for several decades,” said John E. Kicza, interim chair for the Department of History. “This chair will, without a doubt, elevate substantially the department’s reputation in the academic community and our ability to attract quality faculty and graduate students.”

For the fifth straight year, the number of President’s Associates—individuals and organizations contributing $1,000 or more annually—has set a participation record with more than 5,218 members in 2005-06, a 6.1 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. President’s Associates gifts totaled $33,777,867, representing 62.4 percent of the total private support during FY 2006.

“The continued growth of the President’s Associates program demonstrates our donors’ unwavering dedication to WSU and their great confidence in the caliber of research and quality of the education at the university,” said Rawlins. “Through their commitment and generosity as donors, they have established themselves as leaders in the advancement of Washington State University.”

The alumni gift participation rate also increased from 14 percent to more than 16.3 percent, despite the addition of 4,159 new alumni in FY 2006. The student-operated Call-A-Coug telephone outreach program generated a record $2.5 million in pledges, with $1.9 million pledges fulfilled as of June 30. This represented a pledge fulfillment rate of more than 85 percent, compared to 65 percent in FY 2005.

The WSU Foundation’s endowment finished the year at $263.3 million, an increase of 11.9 percent over the previous year and the endowment’s rate of investment return for FY 2006 was 13.1 percent. As of June 30, the endowment’s performance ranked in the top 16th percentile according to the Wilshire Cooperative Universe Index, a database of pooled performance data from various consulting firms that includes data from more than 200 educational institutions.