UT officials say fundraising going well, but won’t talk numbers

Loren Crabtree, chancellor of UT’s Knoxville campus, told the school’s Faculty Senate last month that the fundraising campaign has been in a silent phase for 11 months, but he wouldn’t say much about the amount of money raised.

“These are leadership gifts we will not reveal right now, but I need to tell you that is progressing very well,” he said.

Campaigns typically include a planning phase, during which the institution approaches donors to obtain some commitments before publicly announcing a campaign and its details.

Crabtree told the Faculty Senate that capital campaigns generally last seven years. The fundraising goal hasn’t been announced either, however school officials continue to talk of a billion dollars.

“We don’t know exactly; a billion is an easy, round number to talk about, and I’m sure the campaign goal will ultimately be somewhere in that vicinity,” UT President John Petersen said. “The reason you don’t necessarily set them is you really want to get into (the campaign).

“A lot of times, the first couple of years of lead gifts that you get are going to be what sort of sets the tempo of the campaign.”

The UT system currently averages more than $90 million in fundraising annually.

Henry Nemcik, vice president for development and alumni affairs, is directing the campaign. Nemcik came to UT earlier this year from Texas A&M’s Foundation, where he helped plan and direct a $1 billion campaign there.

At least two dozen other universities and colleges are in the midst of billion-dollar campaigns as a result of flat or declining state appropriations in recent years.

Petersen said UT would use money from the campaign for endowed professorships, scholarship support for students and other programs not yet detailed.

“Basically, our tuition and our state appropriations piece pretty much cover only the baseline issues that you need to deliver the education program and if you really want to make a difference, what you need is the ability to have a sustained additional resource base in order to achieve some excellence in specific areas,” Petersen said.

——

Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com