In conjunction with the launch of the “Move Mountains” campaign in October 2015, the University of Vermont Foundation set new records in its fundraising activities on behalf of the university during fiscal year 2016, surpassing historic milestones reached a year ago for both commitments and receipts from donors. Gifts to the UVM College of Medicine played a major role in helping achieve these results, earning $40.6 million of the university’s record-setting $76,758,513 in new fundraising commitments between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016.
Fiscal year 2016’s new gifts exceeded the prior record of $60,576,278 reached in fiscal year 2015 by some 26.7 percent. Commitments include new gifts, new pledges, and new bequests documented during the year.
The year was highlighted by two extraordinary philanthropic contributions, including an unprecedented $19.7 million gift to the College of Medicine by Robert Larner, ’39, M.D.’42 and Helen Larner. The largest one-time gift in UVM history, the Larners’ donation, announced in April 2016, will advance medical education programs in the College of Medicine.
Of the total new commitments to the university, more than two-thirds – $52.8 million – was given or pledged to Academic Health Sciences designations: $40.6 million to the College of Medicine, $9.3 million to the UVM Medical Center, and $2.9 million to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Move Mountains: The Campaign for The University of Vermont supports four strategic areas of focus – student access and affordability, faculty endowments, new and renovated facilities, and academic programs. To date, the College of Medicine has achieved more than 75 percent of its campaign goal of $125,850,000 through the receipt to date of $94,670,000.
Overall fiscal year 2016 gifts to UVM included $9.7 million for student scholarship support, $4.5 million for endowed chairs and professorships, $3.5 million for facilities, and $49.7 million for support of academic and other programs. Endowed funds accounted for $43.9 million of total commitments. The $9.7 million contributed to student scholarships supports UVM President Tom Sullivan’s top strategic priority of keeping a UVM education affordable for students.
In addition to the Larners’ milestone April 2016 gift, fiscal year 2016 contributions to the College of Medicine included a second donation from the Larners of $9 million announced during the official Move Mountains campaign launch activities in October 2015. A $3 million gift this past June from Burlington, Vt. philanthropists Holly and Bob Miller established the inaugural Miller Chair in Palliative Medicine – the 100th endowed faculty position at UVM at the time of the gift. Other College of Medicine gifts of note included a commitment of $2 million in her estate plan by Ruth Andrea Seeler M.D.’62 to be added to her medical student scholarship fund, which will enable an increase in the total scholarship awards to primary care students by approximately $90,000 annually. In addition, $2 million in gifts from grateful patients, family members, the estate of alumna Harriet Dustan, ’42, M.D.’44, and cardiologist Philip Ades, M.D., and his wife Deborah Rubin, M.D., established the Philip Ades, M.D., Endowed Professorship in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, which will allow the Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention Program to continue to grow and evolve to meet the needs of patients, as well as continue to conduct leading-edge research.
Capital projects receiving support in fiscal 2016 included the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Complex, Billings Library Renovation, Kalkin Hall expansion, Alumni House, and the UVM Medical Center’s new inpatient facility, the Robert E. and Holly D. Miller Building.
More than $1 million in online contributions were made to UVM in FY2016.
(This article was adapted from a press release produced by Jay Goyette of the UVM Foundation.)