what your investment in ut makes possible
sept./oct. 2011
Where is Philanthropy at Texas?
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s the University begins a new academic year, we decided the time was right to give Philanthropy at Texas a fresh look and feel. And yes, a new name. What starts here changes the world — a catchy phrase to be sure, but also a statement of fact, and one that is sometimes easy to take for granted. So by renaming these pages Changing the World, we aim to underscore an important point: Along with UT’s faculty, staff, and students, its alumni and friends are out there changing the world every day. It may start on campus, but it continues with you. The best part? Your continuing support completes the circle for the next generation of leaders. So stay tuned. We’ve got a lot more world-changing stories and news to share in the months and years ahead. — David Onion, Senior Associate Vice President University Development Office
reprinted from sept./oct. 2011
changing the world
What your investment in UT makes possible
The Campaign for Texas Looking Back, Pushing Forward
credits: Above:
Randal Ford; Facing page, clockwise from top right corner: ICES, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Wyatt McSpadden, Esther Havens, Christina Murrey, Wyatt McSpadden, Dave Mead
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he C ampaign for T exas is a major
undertaking, a campus-wide effort to increase UT’s quality, competitiveness, and impact across the board. Gifts to the campaign are targeted at attracting and keeping first-rate faculty, creating new opportunities for talented students, boosting research and academic programs across all disciplines, and enhancing facilities on the University’s beautiful campus. So far, so good. While it will take much more progress to reach the principal goal of making UT the best public research university in the nation, alumni and friends have responded enthusias-
tically to the campaign message, contributing more than $1.65 billion toward the $3 billion goal. This midway point is a time to celebrate the immense impact the campaign is already having, even as we keep our eyes on the horizon. The victories in educating our future citizens and leaders… the advances in scientific and medical research… the contributions to social sciences, and to arts and humanities… the list goes on. Since the campaign began, more than 750,000 unique gifts have come in, including some 640,000 outright gifts, 115,000 pledges, and 600 planned gifts. The collective message is loud and clear: the world needs Texas, and Texas needs our support.
As the Campaign for Texas marches on, the University’s journey continues as well. Together we are helping to bolster wide-ranging and important research, which generates new technologies and know-how to strengthen the Texas economy. This kind of work has a measureable payoff — every dollar invested in the University returns $18 in benefits to the people of Texas. And we’re giving the nation and world the state’s best export, one that only grows in value each year: UT graduates. With so much at stake in this campaign, even greater possibilities lie ahead. Much more work remains to elevate the University’s quality and national standing. But for now, we offer a look back at a few of the highlights thus far. This is in no way meant to be a complete list of gifts received, but is an illustration of the range of support and how it is being put to work. While the vast majority — 88 percent — of gifts are less than $1,000, each of the campaign priorities has garnered some key major gifts. The School of Music was named for Austin’s Ernest and Sarah Butler following the couple’s support of faculty, students, and programs with a transformational gift of $55 million, the largest ever to a music school at a public university. Joe Jamail, of Houston, made a $15 million gift to three areas he cares deeply about: $12.5 million to benefit law and nursing, plus $2.5 million to significantly boost academic advising for prospective and first-year students. The Law School also received $5 million from Houston’s Stephen Susman to help the school meet its highest priority needs. In the College of Communication, Dallas’ Belo Foundation, Robert W. and Maureen Decherd, the estate of James M. Moroney Jr., and the Moroney family donated $15 million to establish the Belo Center for New Media. Construction is under way on this facility, which will wed cutting-edge technology with innovative teaching methods. The late Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe, of Uvalde, gave $15 million to the Center for American History, a gift that capped decades of helpful involvement and support, and the center now bears his name in grateful recognition. Fort Worth philanthropist W.A. “Tex” Moncrief gave $18 million, which was combined continued with an $18 million match from
88 percent of gifts are less than $1,000.
Ernest & Sarah Butler, above, celebrate their music school gift, the campaign’s largest so far. The AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center, upper left, opened in 2008. Scientists at the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES) create visual models of storm surges, like this one of Hurricane Katrina, upper right, to improve public safety. The Bill & Melinda Gates Computer Science Complex, lower right, is on track for completion in 2013.
A Giving Campus Community
D
uring a time of economic uncertainty and fiscal belt-tightening, robust faculty participation in the campaign is all the more remarkable. Among the many examples campuswide, standouts include the School of Architecture, in which nearly every faculty member has contributed to the school’s programs and endowments, and the Butler School of Music, where a professor spearheaded an effort among his colleagues to fund a much-needed scholarship. Students, too, are increasingly aware that they can be more than recipients of generosity — they can be donors themselves. Giving of their resources and time, Students Hooked on Texas are honoring those whose support opened UT’s doors to them while helping give that same access to students yet to come.
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changing the world an anonymous donor to create a fellowship endowment in simulation-based engineering sciences at ICES. The fund will enable UT to scientifically tackle some of the grand challenges facing the nation and the world today. Also computer related, one of the nation’s leading computer science departments, in the College of Natural Sciences, is closer to having a state-of-the-art home, thanks to a $30 million challenge grant from the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $10 million from Austin’s Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. The two-building complex, rising now on the Speedway pedestrian mall, will bring the entire department together for the first time. Across the East Mall and next to the new Student Activity Center, the College of Liberal Arts will soon have a new six-story building, including an entire floor for UT’s ROTC units, thanks in part to $15 million from James and Miriam Mulva of Houston. The McCombs School of Business now has the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center, named in honor of AT&T’s $25 million contribution, as a much-needed home for its executive MBA and corporate training programs. A $16 million planned-gift commitment from Austin’s Beverly and Will O’Hara will support student and faculty endowments in McCombs’ Business Honors Program and number one-ranked Department of Accounting. Despite the noteworthy size and impact of all of those gifts, collectively they make up only about 15 percent of the campaign total to date. Perhaps even more significant, in terms of participation, 35 percent of all alumni gifts to the campaign have come from first-time donors.
Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe helped the Briscoe Center add to its collections, including an 1849 daguerreotype of the Alamo chapel, above, the oldest datable photograph taken in Texas. When the Ransom Center appealed to fans of Gone With The Wind, right, for help conserving five costumes from the film, more than 600 individuals from around the world contributed.
So far,
26%
of alumni have given to the campaign
No Matter the Size, All Gifts Count
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tudents in the campus call center contact alumni and friends year-round to help build ongoing financial support for the University. Participation, and not gift size, is the emphasis of Annual Giving at UT, a policy not lost on loyal, but not necessarily wealthy, alumni. A smattering of feedback from donors:
credits: This page,
clockwise from top left corner: Briscoe Center, School of Nursing, Marty Harris/McDonald Observatory, Bianca Bickford, Ransom Center; Facing page, from top: Callie Richmond, Dave Mead
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“I really enjoyed my time at UT and will always ‘bleed orange.’ Thank you for taking my meager donation. It was the least I could do.” ’01 English major “My gifts, as small as they may be, make a statement that I believe in the progress and success of my alma mater. People are always impressed when they find out I graduated from The University of Texas, and I want that tradition to continue for future generations of Longhorns.” ’03 communication studies major
“It simply makes me feel better to give back to a school that gave me a lot. Studying at UT was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.” ’04 geophysics major “I give each year because tuition and fees don’t come anywhere close to covering the costs of maintaining the University, let alone improving it.” ’07 public affairs major “I give to UT so that it can be competitive in attracting the best talent, and so that it can be an essential part of other people’s personal growth, as it was for mine.” ’97 Plan II major
TOMORROW’S TEXAS EXES SAY THANKS
$3 B
$2.5 B
$2 B
Last fall, more than 2,000 students participated in Thanks Day — a chance for students to acknowledge parents, alumni and friends, faculty, staff, taxpayers, legislators, and everyone else who $1.23 Billion makestotal a UT educaraised tion possible.
Campaign Goal $3 Billion
$1.5 B
2009–10 + $299 Million
$1 B
$.5 B
0.0
2008–09 + $289 Million 2007–08 + $376 Million 2006–07 $263Planning Million
Now to Give Later
M
State support
Tuition and fees
AUF (income from PUF)
Gifts and endowments
AUF (nonrecurring)
Other funding sources*
*Includes income from intellectual property, grants, contracts, and self-supporting enterprises such as dormitories and intercollegiate athletics
For more information
any alumni and friends are participating in the Campaign for Texas simply by letting the University know that it is part of their estate plans. From bequests and beneficiary designations in your will to charitable gift annuities, IRA gifts, and trusts, there are numerous ways to make a gift commitment now that will continue to benefit the University long after you’re gone. In addition to being part of the campaign, if you let UT know of your estate intentions you’ll gain the peace of mind of ensuring that your gift will be used exactly as you wish.
about the Campaign for Texas, visit giving.utexas.edu or call 877-4UTEXAS.
Four Key Priorities From Sept. 1, 2006, to Sep. 1, 2011, alumni and friends — more than a third of alumni were first-time givers — contributed $1.65 billion toward the Campaign for Texas’ $3 billion goal. Here is where they directed those 751,780 gifts.
4%
Faculty
11%
1,875 gifts worth $68 million
Students
24,542 gifts worth $183 million
Facilities
2,313 gifts worth $398 million
24%
61%
Programs & Research 723,050 gifts worth $1 billion
Total
751,780 gifts worth $1.65 billion Changing the World is produced by the University Development Office. Please send your feedback and suggestions to editor Jamey Smith at jjsmith@austin.utexas.edu . For more news and information about giving to UT, visit giving.utexas.edu .
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