2006 PRESIDENT'S REPORT

One look around The University of Montana campus
will tell you that major changes are under way.

New buildings are being constructed, old buildings are being renovated and plans are being made for even more improvements – visible evidence of the University’s successful fundraising campaign, “Invest in Discovery.”

Since its launch in 2002, the campaign has raised $91 million as of Dec. 31, 2006, for UM scholarships and fellowships, faculty support, program support and renovated and new facilities.

As a result of generous donor gifts, the University has more than $19.6 million to create or enhance 471 undergraduate scholarships and 58 graduate fellowships. The scholarships and fellowships are crucial in attracting the best students from Montana and across the nation to UM.

Another $8.4 million has been designated to support endowed positions such as the John J. Craighead Chair in Wildlife Biology, which is now a fully-funded position. The campaign calls for investing in endowed faculty positions in areas where UM’s leadership is well established. To that end, UM seeks funding for positions in cardiovascular sciences, neurological sciences, limnology, journalism, creative writing and ecology. In addition to work on these endowed positions, 11 other faculty support programs have been created or enhanced through the campaign to date.

“Invest in Discovery” provides for UM programs as well – more than $28.5 million is at work to create or enhance 419 funds for current use and 182 program endowments in a wide range of academic disciplines and services. The money designated for academic programs will help to meet technology needs, build library holdings, fund professional development and provide enhanced educational opportunities for students, as well as underwrite outreach efforts that enrich diversity and strengthen the University’s connection to the community and the state.

The telltale sign of the campaign’s success are the many building projects on campus. More than $25 million has been designated for renovated and new facilities. This money funds the Hall of Champions, where daily visitors can learn about the many Griz greats in men’s and women’s intercollegiate sports, as well as the Pharmacy Biomedical Research Addition to the Skaggs Building and Don Anderson Hall for the School of Journalism. The biomedical research addition and Don Anderson Hall will be dedicated in May 2007.

The campaign contributions also will be used to build a Native American Center. The ground upon which the center will be built was blessed at an intertribal ceremony at Homecoming this year. In addition to those major projects, money also has been received for an alumni-development center, the School of Business Administration’s Gilkey Center for Executive Education, the health and human performance building renovation, the law school building renovation and addition, the media arts building renovation, the Montana Museum of Art and Culture, the Phyllis J. Washington Education Center and the Washington-Grizzly Stadium expansion.

The $91 million raised so far includes the establishment of nearly 120 planned gifts in the form of annuities, insurance policies, bequests and the like, in addition to outright gifts. Nearly 24,000 people have contributed during the campaign period, and more than 7,500 of those contributors are first-time donors to the University.

Two very encouraging signs are emerging in this campaign effort. More than 21 percent of UM alumni have made a gift during the campaign period, and the UM Foundation is reaching out to many more. Also, many non-alumni who have chosen to support this campaign have provided more than 25 percent of the total dollars to date.

The campaign is projected to end in December 2007. With the continuing support of alumni and friends, says UM President George Dennison, the goal of $100 million is within reach.

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