The University of Vermont Foundation, in partnership with the UVM Medical Center Foundation, secured a record $135,692,313 in total new commitments pledged during the fiscal year that concluded on June 30, 2017. This achievement marks the fourth year in a row that the UVM Foundation has set a new institutional record for total commitments to support the University of Vermont and the UVM Medical Center.

Commitments include new gifts, pledges, bequests and gifts-in-kind documented during the fiscal year. The prior record at UVM for commitments was $76,758,513 (established in fiscal year 2016), representing an increase this year of almost 77 percent.

Cash receipts – new one-time gifts, payments on pledges and realized estate gifts – in fiscal year 2017 totaled $46,917,902, the second-highest amount during the Move Mountains capital campaign.

FY17 was yet another strong year in the comprehensive campaign. Move Mountains: The Campaign for The University of Vermont was publicly launched in October 2015 to support four strategic areas of focus at UVM – student access and affordability, faculty support and endowments, new and renovated facilities, and academic and program support. Total commitments for the Move Mountains campaign, set to conclude on June 30, 2019, now have surpassed $430 million towards the overall goal of $500 million.

“Our donors are profoundly impacting the lives of UVM students, faculty, staff, physicians, and a number of promising research initiatives,” said Shane Jacobson, president and CEO of the UVM Foundation. “The outcomes of this record-breaking year will not only effect those who walk on campus today, but improve education for generations to come.”

A number of gifts highlighted this signature year.

• Medical education, in the words of Dr. Robert Larner, will be “second to none” at UVM thanks to a $66 million commitment from UVM dual-degree alum and Vermont native Robert Larner ’39, M.D. ’42, and his wife, Helen. The bequest, the largest gift ever to a public university in New England, caps decades of philanthropic support from the Larners and brings the couple’s lifetime giving to an estimated $100 million to support medical education at the University of Vermont. In grateful recognition, the UVM Board of Trustees announced its decision to name The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine, representing the first time a U.S. medical school has been designated to honor an alumnus physician and donor.
• The UVM Foundation successfully completed the Grossman Challenge, a matching initiative from Steven Grossman ’61 and the Grossman Family Foundation to raise $10 million for the Grossman School of Business.
• In April, the University of Vermont announced its first university-wide environmental institute, the interdisciplinary Gund Institute for Environment, to connect scholars with government while encouraging business and societal leaders to address urgent sustainability issues around the globe. It was made possible by a $6 million gift from the Gund Family, including Gordon Gund (UVM honorary degree ‘95) and his wife, Llura (Lulie, UVM honorary degree ‘95); Grant Gund ’91 and his wife, Lara; and Zachary Gund ’93 and his wife, Lindsey.
• An investment to renovate the former Taft School (located on the edge of the UVM campus) into the University of Vermont’s first integrated center for the arts came from a leadership gift of $5 million from Michele Cohen ‘72 and her husband Marty.
• Since University of Vermont President Tom Sullivan arrived on campus five years ago, he has stressed the critical importance of attracting and retaining outstanding faculty. At that time, UVM had 52 endowed faculty positions. With five faculty investiture ceremonies held during this fiscal year, the university and the UVM Foundation now have more than doubled the number of endowed positions on campus with 107 as of June 30, 2017.

“I am deeply moved by the decision many have made to invest in the Move Mountains campaign,” said Tom Sullivan. “We consider donors as partners who, with the talented people here at UVM, generate excitement and momentum towards an even more purposeful future.  We are honored to steward these gifts as we uphold the generosity of those who believe so deeply in the value of a UVM education.”

In addition to student, faculty, and program support, capital projects also benefited from important gifts. Those efforts included the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Complex, Taft School and Billings Library renovations, Ifshin Hall (Grossman School of Business), UVM Alumni House and the UVM Medical Center's new inpatient facility, the Robert E. and Holly D. Miller Building.

As of June 30, 2017, there were 61,199 donors to the University of Vermont through the Move Mountains campaign and 18,938 donors to the UVM Medical Center, with some of these donors giving to both organizations. More than a third hail from Vermont.