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Pitt reaches $2 billion fundraising goal
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University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg announced today that Pitt has exceeded its goal of raising $2 billion, making its campaign the largest fundraising initiative in Western Pennsylvania history.
"We think $2 billion is quite an accomplishment," Mr. Nordenberg said as he made the announcement this afternoon in front of a crowd of supporters and alumni gathered in the J.W. Connolly
ballroom of Pitt's Alumni Hall. "It does position Pitt as being in the major league of fundraising."
The announcement was made as part of Pitt's 225th anniversary homecoming address.
Of the $2.05 billion total, 76 percent is in hand and the remainder is in the form of pledges being paid over time.
The Building Our Future Together capital campaign began quietly in 1998 and was announced publicly in 2000, with the goal to raise $500 million.
It hit that mark by 2000, when the target was increased to $1 billion.
In 2007, the target was upped again to $2 billion. The fund stands at about $2.05 billion.
The total is more than eight times larger than Pitt's previous campaign which was launched in 1987 and raised more than $251 million.
About 40 percent of the donations came from alumni with 60 percent from private organizations and foundations. There were 182,000 donors to the Building Our Future Together campaign, 88,000 of whom were alumni.
Of the donors, 315 gave $1 million or more, 17 donated between $10-$25 million and 11 gave more than $25 million.
Two of the largest donations led to the renaming of schools. The Swanson School of Engineering was named for Ansys Inc. founder and alumnus John Swanson, who donated $41.3 million in 2007.
The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences was renamed after the father of the late trustee and donor William S. Dietrich, a former steel industry executive who donated $125 million in September 2011, weeks before his death.
Almost half of the total raised -- $992 million -- came from donors outside of Pennsylvania.
One-third of the money is designated to create endowments: 593 student scholarships and fellowships, 145 faculty chairs and named professorships and hundreds more in research in specific areas, student life and faculty enrichment.
Of the total, $210 million has been committed by donors for scholarships and fellowships.
Mr. Nordenberg said the campaign will conclude June 30, 2013.
"Though you can be sure other campaigns will be coming," the chancellor said.
First Published October 12, 2012 4:07 pm
