Foundation reports record $230.2 million in private donations

Reporting $230.2 million collected, the IU Foundation set an all-time record for contributions from the private sector for the 2000-01 fiscal year. \nIn its annual report, the Foundation reported nearly 100,000 individuals and organizations made contributions to IU, more than doubling last year's total givings of $109.1 million. Barbara Coffman, IU Foundation executive director of communications, attributed the dramatic increase in donations to the Lilly Endowment for biotechnology, which contributed $105 million.\n"The main portion of the Lilly Endowment comes from the Indiana Genomics Project, or INGEN," Coffman said. "The project will enable IU to accomplish significant and ground-breaking research."\nThe significant increase in the total was due to the $9.5 million "promises to give", which new accounting standards for fund-raising require the Foundation to report, said Curt Simic, IU Foundation president. \n"We have tremendous alumni support, and our growing programs in Indianapolis and at IU Southeast have made significant contributions to the Foundation," Simic said.\nThe significant increase in total contributions brings increased opportunities for faculty and students, Coffman said.\n"There are more scholarships available and the University has been able to hire and keep excellent faculty," Coffman said. "We are also able to give out more graduate student support."\nAn endowment, as Coffman defines it, is a gift that is made to be invested with only a portion to be given back to the University. \n"The endowment is there forever," Coffman said. "Our managed investment total is over $1 billion, and we have an $300 million in planned gifts."\nBut there has been some speculation about the effects that the events of Sept. 11 have had, and will have upon the gift totals from the private sector.\nAs of Sept. 30, the IU Foundation was on schedule with fundraising for the first fiscal quarter. But Kent Dove, vice president for development for the IU Foundation, reserved his optimism until after Dec. 31.\n"We do expect a downfall in the amount of gifts this fiscal year," Dove said. "December is a big month for us and we will have a much clearer assessment of fallout after Dec. 31."\nAll-totaled, Americans have donated more than $700 million to aid in the relief of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Dove feels much of the money that individuals would normally be earmarked to give to IU will go to aide the nation's recovery.\n"There is a level of financial uncertainty in the nation right now," Dove said. "Certainly this will affect the amount of gifts we receive, but it will not affect the level of education that students at IU get." \nThe Foundation suspended telemarketing after Sept. 11 and it is not clear what the affects will be on year-end totals.\n"We felt it was a matter of doing what was right," Dove said. "Sometimes there are things we do out of good taste, not because we are concerned with the bottom line"