IU Foundation raises more than $504M

Exceeding its original goal by $154 million, the IU Foundation raised $504 million in the recent Academic Endowment Campaign.\nOver 200 new endowed chairs and professorships for the Bloomington campus were also added, Curt Simic, president of the IU Foundation, said. \nWith the new professorships, IU exceeded all other Big 10 schools in its category.\nSimic was the main speaker for the Women's Club Program and Luncheon hosted by the IU foundation Thursday.\n"The foundation has a major impact on the school's monetary support," Donald Moore, a member of the University Club and participate in the luncheon, said. \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. \nSimic said the 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.\n"We have tremendous alumni support, and our growing programs in Indianapolis and at the IU Southeast have made significant contributions to the Foundation," Simic said in an Oct. 11 article in the IDS. \nThe increased monetary support of the foundation offers new possibilities for IU students.\nWith this support, IU can improve the quality of professors and recruit the best, along with improving the quality of facilities such as the Kelley School of Business and the Theatre/Neal-Marshall Education Center.\n In addition, more scholarships and fellowships can be made available to students.\n"There are more scholarships available and the University has been able to hire and keep excellent faculty, "Barbara Coffman, IU Foundation Executive Director of Communications, said. "We are also able to give out more graduate student support."\n The foundation plans to focus on campus beautification this year, support for a new interdisciplinary science building, and graduate fellowship support.\n The IU foundation was formed in 1936 to raise private funds. The initiative grew out of the success of the memorial campaign of the 1920s which raised funds for Memorial Hall, the IMU and Memorial Stadium to honor those alumni who died in World War I.