CAMPAIGN UPDATE
photo by Sally McCay
Campaign exceeds $250 million goal
With The Campaign for the University of Vermont still months from its official conclusion on June 30, 2007, UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel reported to the Board of Trustees that total commitments to the Campaign for the University of Vermont went over the top at $250.6 million as of the end of the day Thursday, January 18, 2007, exceeding its goal with more than five months remaining in the official Campaign timeline.
“This signal achievement is a tremendous vote of confidence in UVM and an affirmation of an intense, widely-shared belief in the University’s value and quality,” Fogel said. “We should also see this moment as freighted with the obligation to meet the high expectations UVM has been working toward. It is a call to continue to develop the philanthropic resources that will be key to fulfilling the promise, not least of all by intensifying our efforts to increase the campaign total through to its deadline in June of this year.”
President Fogel expressed gratitude for “the generosity of our wonderful donors and volunteers and for the coordinated efforts of deans, faculty, staff, and our colleagues in Development and Alumni Relations.” He gave special thanks to the members of the university’s Board of Trustees and to the National Campaign Steering Committee, noting especially the leadership of alumni Robert ’90 and Meghan Cioffi ’91, Eugene ’50 and Joan Kalkin, and Bruce Lisman ’69.
“Their support and that of the entire University community has positioned the University of Vermont to realize its overarching goal in the years ahead—to become known as the nation's premier small public research university," the president said.
Launched in July of 2001 as only the second campaign in UVM history, The Campaign for the University of Vermont is raising funds primarily for student scholarships, faculty support, and facilities. Through February, 2007, the Campaign total stood at $252,592,421.
Celebrating in D.C.
The elegant Ambassador’s Residence of the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C., was the setting for a gathering of the UVM community in and around the nation’s capital the evening of March 13.
Hosted by President Daniel Mark Fogel, Rachel Kahn-Fogel, former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland Madeleine Kunin, Urs Ziswiler, Swiss Ambassador to the United States, and the University’s Washington, D.C., Regional Board, the event was an opportunity for alumni, students, parents, and friends of the University to celebrate UVM’s recent Campaign successes and to hear about the University’s plans for the future.
Entertainment was provided by UVM student musicians Amy Doolittle ’09, Jon Moncton ’07, Allison Pike ’08, and Natasha Sadoff ’07. Student speaker was Katharine Melman, ’07, and welcoming remarks were made by J.P. Dowd ’86 and Kara Dowd ’93, co-chairs of the Washington, D.C., Regional Board.
President Daniel Mark Fogel and Rachel Kahn-Fogel offered up a toast in celebration of UVM and its future.
“Our theme for this evening has been ‘Building Our Future Together,’” President Fogel said in his remarks, “and that is in a very real sense what we have been doing not only here tonight but at a number of other events around the country where support for the University and its aspirations has reached critical mass among alumni, parents, and friends.”
The greater Washington, D.C. area, he noted, comprises an extended UVM family of more than 4,000 people, including 2,290 alumni, 1,010 parents and alumni parents, 249 current students, and 238 friends of the University. In addition, a remarkable 833 prospective students from the Washington, D.C. area applied for admission for 2007–’08.
“Now,” he said, “we must redouble our efforts to turn potential and promise into reward and fulfillment. The work in which we have been engaged together for the last few years has only just begun.”
Bringing it all back home
With the flush of excitement in January over news of The Campaign for the University of Vermont passing the $250 million milestone, attention has quickly returned to the countdown to the official close of the Campaign on June 30, 2007.
Appropriately enough, the emphasis during this final phase of the Campaign is on Vermont and Vermont donors, whose response in these final months will push the overall Campaign total even higher.
The Vermont Campaign, which officially began July 1, 2006, has in that time generated gifts from some 8,960 donors totaling more than $5.2 million. That total is included as part of the overall Campaign, which now stands at more than $252.6 million.
“We’re very pleased with our progress to date and looking forward to at least doubling this amount by the time the Campaign closes at the end of June,” said Penrose Jackson, ’70, co-chair of the Vermont Regional Campaign Committee. “Vermonters have really stepped up and shown their support for Vermont’s university.”
Co-chair Frank Cioffi ’77 points to participation as an important goal in the Vermont Regional Campaign. “Of course, we want the total to be as high as we can make it,” he says, “but the number of donors is also an important gauge of support for the University in communities throughout Vermont. We want the participation to be as broad as possible, and gifts at any giving level are important.” Cioffi said he also hopes that donors are marking their calendars for the end-of-campaign celebration during Homecoming & Family Weekend Friday and Saturday, October 5–6, 2007. “This is going to be a real University-wide celebration of our success over these past several years,” he says, “as well as a way for the University to say ‘thank you.’”Charting our progress
(for UVM staff)