Pitt's Trustees Double Goal of Discover a World of Possibilities Fundraising Campaign to $2 Billion as It Approaches Its $1 Billion Goal With a Year to Spare

PITTSBURGH--With the University of Pittsburgh's Discover a World of Possibilities fundraising campaign now at more than $960 million-fast approaching its $1 billion goal about a year before its June 30, 2007, scheduled conclusion-Pitt's Board of Trustees passed a resolution at its annual meeting today authorizing the University to extend the campaign, doubling its goal to $2 billion.

Discover a World of Possibilities is already the largest and most successful fundraising campaign in the history of Southwestern Pennsylvania. By adopting this new campaign goal, the Board has made the University's campaign the largest publicly announced campaign in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and has advanced Pitt into the ranks of only eight other American universities currently pursuing campaigns of $2 billion or more: Columbia University, the University of Virginia, the University of Michigan, New York University, the University of Chicago, the University of North Carolina, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Washington.

In taking its action, Pitt's Board stated that "for the past decade, the University of Pittsburgh has made unprecedented academic progress, as is reflected by such measures as the significant increase in the number of applicants seeking admission to its programs, the much stronger qualifications of enrolled students, dramatically elevated levels of research funding, and the special forms of recognition earned by its faculty, students, and alumni," progress fueled by the Board's 1996 public commitment to secure for the University an adequate resource base by "dramatically improving efforts to attract private funding to an institution whose programs clearly are worthy of generous support."

Pitt's Board of Trustees noted in its resolution that the University "is faced with constrained governmental funding for student financial aid, research, programs, and facilities and must continue to attract private gifts and grants to support its important mission."

The Board also noted in its resolution that

• following the public launch of the Discover a World of Possibilities campaign in October 2000, it doubled the initial goal of $500 million to $1 billion in June 2002 after the University had exceeded its initial goal more than a year early;

• the campaign, which will reach its $1 billion goal by the end of 2006, has thus far "added substantially to the academic growth and stature of the University by providing support for talented and deserving students, committed and high-achieving faculty members, programs of quality and impact, and facilities that are essential to the achievement of our institutional goals; and

• the Board "remains firmly committed to its statement of aspiration" adopted in February 2002: "By aggressively supporting the advancement of Pitt's academic mission, we will clearly and consistently demonstrate that this is one of the finest and most productive universities in the world," and that the Board's members "dedicate themselves" to extending the campaign for an increased $2 billion goal "to be used to support the people and programs of the University of Pittsburgh in ways that further enhance its impact and add to its already proud legacy."

Discover a World of Possibilities has raised in excess of $960 million in gifts and pledges as of June 23, 2006, with a number of noteworthy statistics that mark substantial progress since 1997, the start of the campaign's "quiet" phase:

• 325 new endowed scholarship funds for a total of 742, an increase of 78 percent in the number of such funds;

• 29 new endowed fellowships for a total of 87, an increase of 50 percent in the number of such funds;

• 15 new endowed professorships for a total of 49, an increase of 44 percent in the number of such funds;

• 51 new endowed chairs for a total of 91, an increase of 128 percent in the number of such funds; and

• 422 new named miscellaneous faculty and student resource endowments used to support such activities and programs as research projects, research travel, book purchases, and student academic projects for a total of 762 of these endowments, representing an increase of 124 percent in the number of such funds.

The campaign has enjoyed broad support, attracting its current total of more than $960 million from 113,361 donors. Of those donors, 66,863, or 59 percent, are alumni. Another significant measurement of the success of any campaign is the number of donors who have made commitments of $1 million or more, and here the total of 193 such gifts is particularly telling. Even more striking is the fact that 36 of those commitments of $1 million or more are from first-time donors to the University.

The campaign has positioned Pitt to establish and sustain programs of quality and impact, among them the Swanson Institute for Technical Excellence, made possible by a series of major gifts from alumnus John Swanson; the creation, through the philanthropy of Henry Hillman, of the Hillman Fellows Program for Innovative Cancer Research; and the most recent gift from two of Pitt's most generous benefactors, alumnus John Petersen and Gertrude Petersen, that will support University-wide initiatives in nanoscience.

In addition, the campaign has permitted the University to construct and renovate facilities that support its aspirations, with more than $1 billion in facilities projects launched and completed within the past decade. Those construction, renovation, and restoration projects took place in Pittsburgh and on each of the University's other four campuses, enhancing Pitt's capacities significantly in the arts, instruction, research, recreation, student life, and campus living.

"The extraordinary support attracted by this campaign is a real tribute to the generosity of Pitt's supporters," said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. "To have so many donors investing so heavily in our University also reflects their respect for our people and programs and their belief in the importance of our work. As we continue our determined climb even higher in the ranks of the country's finest research universities, we are competing with stronger and better-funded institutions, even as we are moving through difficult economic times. By again doubling our campaign goal-this time to $2 billion-we are signaling our intention to take full advantage of our existing momentum and to attract the resources we will need to capture Pitt's full potential."

"To meet the challenges in higher education today and to continue Pitt's progress and momentum," said Pitt trustee and campaign chair Thomas J. Usher, "the University has determined that by extending the current capital campaign and enhancing its fundraising initiatives, it will help attract more high-achieving students and faculty to our campus, retain and support outstanding faculty, and provide a nurturing learning environment that inspires discovery in all of the University's many disciplines. The financially strong and vigorous Pitt made possible by this campaign is of the utmost importance to the continued economic strength and viability of our entire region. Indeed, because the campaign has relied on alumni and friends from outside our region for the majority of its funding, it has already helped import more than $500 million into our community."

"Since 1997, when the Discover a World of Possibilities fundraising campaign began, our trustees, alumni, administration, and countless volunteers have worked diligently to ensure our success," said Albert J. Novak Jr., vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement, and Clyde B. Jones III, vice chancellor for health sciences development. "With the continued commitment of the University's alumni and friends during this new fundraising initiative, we can build an even stronger institution committed to changing and improving lives through teaching, learning, and research."

"The University of Pittsburgh is extremely well positioned in a number of respects to extend the Discover a World of Possibilities campaign," commented Martin Grenzebach, chair of Grenzebach Glier & Associates, Inc., in Chicago, national campaign counsel to the University. "The momentum of the University and the campaign remains strong. The University's leadership is stable, highly regarded, well-positioned within the community and beyond, and enthusiastic about the institution's fundraising prospects. The deans are experienced, focused, and committed to strong planning and effective fundraising execution. In addition, the staff is campaign-seasoned, well-managed, and increasingly focused on major and principal gifts. Through the campaign to date, Pitt has realized unprecedented growth in individual giving, and the number of qualified and documented principal and major gift prospects is greater than at any time in the University's history."

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6/23/06/tmw