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Business
Drive
nets $350,000
The
Missoula business and professional community and UM employees
contributed more than $350,000 this fall through the Missoula
Business Drive for the Excellence Fund, which will support
academic programs at UM.
Among
major beneficiaries of the fund-raising effort are scholarships
for talented students, faculty and staff professional development,
and outreach activities that bring the outside world to
campus and take UM expertise elsewhere.
Because
UM students faced tuition increases this year, the Business
Drive designated scholarships as the top priority for fund
raising in 2001 and offered the opportunity for donors who
increased their gifts over the 2000 level to earmark the
added gift for scholarships.
During
the six-week effort, 96 volunteers contacted more than 1,000
of their Missoula peers asking them to say "Count Me
In" with a contribution to the University. They had
raised $350,730 by the final tally on Dec. 31.
The
Missoula Business Drive began in late September and -- despite
the events of Sept. 11 -- Missoulians continued their tradition
of private support that adds the margin of excellence to
a UM education. Carol S. Williams, UM alumna and 2001 chair,
said she and the other volunteers were grateful to the community
for its generosity this year.
"We
are always asked to support worthy initiatives," she
said, "and this year more than ever there were many
charities we Missoulians wanted to support. Still, the University
continues to rely on private gifts and we're grateful for
the generosity of our friends and neighbors whose contributions
put the drive over its goal for the 23rd straight year."
As
she completed her term as Business Drive chair, Williams
issued an invitation to others to join in the drive next
year either as a donor or volunteer.
"(UM)
is tied so closely to all the things we like about living
and working here. Participation in the Missoula Business
Drive is a way to help ensure the University continues to
thrive and provide the educational, cultural and recreational
services we've come to expect from UM," she said.
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