For the fifth consecutive year, Mississippi State University has set a fundraising record. This year, MSU received $86 million in donations. That’s $6 million more than last year and a whopping $35 million more than it raised in 2007.
The donations to the university come from countless avenues, but with numbers this large, a main contributor can usually be pointed out; someone or some group whose singular gift inflates the total.
“Typically when you put up a big year like this there will be some mega-gifts in there,” said John Rush, vice president for development and alumni.” I am talking about eight-figure kind of gifts. We had that last year. This year, we did not have a single gift of $10 million dollars or greater.”
The university did receive several gifts of $1 million to $9 million and 15 gifts accounted for $39.5 million, nearly half of the total. Though obviously still driven by a select few, Rush said this year’s fundraising record is the result of university participation across the board.
“It’s the whole university,” he said. “The MSU Foundation coordinates the fundraising activities, but the president is involved, the deans are involved, athletics is involved and then all the way down to the student employees in the call center. Every aspect of the university is involved.”
For 50 years the MSU Foundation has been handling the university’s private support funds, which are usually directed to particular departments or purposes according the donors’ preferences. Rush said the experience gained over the years has matured the foundation, and given them a sharp focus.
In 2009, MSU President Mark Keenum announced a new fundraising effort dubbed “StatePride: An Initiative for Student and Faculty Support,” and set a goal to raise $100 million in private funds by 2013. The efforts have not been in vain. StatePride is currently only $2 million short of the $100 million goal, and Rush said it should exceed the goal months ahead of schedule.
“That’s all from great leadership,” Rush said. “President Keenum has continually stressed to our constituents how important giving is, and I think that has been a huge factor.”
The alumni giving percentage at MSU has gone from 14 percent to 18 percent since Keenum arrived, six percentage points above the national average.
“Alumni and friends remain confident in the direction of MSU as the state’s largest university as we strive for further enrollment growth and extend our reach both nationally and globally through teaching, research and service endeavors,” Keenum said in a press release.
Despite being in the Southeastern Conference, where athletic budgets can mirror small state budgets, MSU raises more money for academics each year than it does for athletics, although athletics still receives a significant sum.
“Athletics is a major player,” Rush said. “But we have more people giving and more people giving to all different areas of the university … we’ve just really broadened our base and have been able to get people engaged like never before.”
The university sees the majority of the money donated through the MSU Foundation go to university scholarships, athletics, The Bagley College of Engineering, the college of business and the division of agriculture.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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