News Release

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s fund-raising campaign closed out fiscal year 2005 with a bang, surging past $1.5 billion in total commitments and bringing in a record $192.5 million for the year.

With $1.51 billion raised as of June 30, the Carolina First Campaign was well on the way to reaching its $1.8 billion goal. The campaign, which supports UNC’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university, began in July 1999 and is scheduled to end June 30, 2007. That means the drive already had met 84 percent of its goal by June 30 while being just 75 percent complete. The campaign counts gifts, pledges and deferred gifts.

UNC alumni had given almost $582 million. Corporations and foundations had almost matched that, providing more than $571 million. The balance has come from friends of the university and other organizations.

"We’re getting great support from across the board," said Paul Fulton, a UNC trustee and co-chair of the Carolina First Campaign Steering Committee. "The campaign is more than meeting our expectations, which attests to how much people love the university and understand its dire need to meet the present competitive environment. We’re deeply grateful."

Through June 30, gifts to the campaign had created 148 professorships and 505 scholarships and fellowships, as well as added more than $600 million to Carolina’s endowment. The drive has funded new research, spawned new programs and initiatives, and helped pay for the renovation and construction of campus facilities.

Initiatives supported by the campaign include the Carolina Covenant, which enables students from low-income families to graduate debt free, and a clinical genetics research center. The center brings together researchers, physicians and medical faculty to explore the relationship between genetics and diseases and transfers promising new treatments from the laboratory to patient bedsides.

Among the numerous facilities benefiting from private support are an addition to the School of Nursing, providing classrooms, faculty offices and research space, and renovations to Memorial Hall, transforming the campus landmark into a comfortable, elegant venue for the performing arts.

"The campaign is bettering every aspect of campus life," said Mike Overlock, another of Carolina First’s three co-chairs. "We’re able to recruit and retain more great faculty and enroll more outstanding students, plus give them all the tools they need to excel."

The 2005 mark of $192.5 million breaks Carolina’s single-year record of $192.4 million, set in 2004. This total counts only cash and assets received outright. Including pledges and deferred gifts, commitments totaled $244.8 million, topping 2004’s $236 million.

Major gifts this past year included $3 million from Charlie Loudermilk, chairman and chief executive officer of Aaron Rents Inc., to expand executive education facilities at the Rizzo Conference Center, part of Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Gifts from individuals also included $600,000 from alumnus and former U.S. Ambassador Anthony S. Harrington and his wife, Hope. That completed a $1.6 million endowment fund to support the Institute of Latin American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Among foundation gifts was $2.37 million from the Gary W. Parr Family Foundation in New York City to establish the Parr Center for Ethics in the department of philosophy. Gary W. Parr, a 1979 alumnus, is deputy chairman of Lazard Freres & Co LLC, in New York. The Parr Center is the public face of the university’s commitment to ethics. And a $7.1 million pledge from the Ithaca, N.Y.-based Triad Foundation will fund the Roy H. Park Fellowship program in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication from 2005-06 through 2009-10.

The Charlotte-based Bank of America Foundation gave $900,000 to the Carolina Covenant, as well as $100,000 to the Center for Banking and Finance in UNC's School of Law. Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC was another major contributor to the Carolina Covenant, providing $1.5 million. And the James M. Johnston Trust of Chevy Chase, Md., gave $2.1 million to student aid programs.

Foundation gifts also included one from the Crown family of Chicago, which established an endowed professorship in honor of the late Sara and E.J. Evans of Durham, N.C., longtime leaders of civic and Jewish causes. The Sara and E.J. Evans Distinguished Professorship, based in the department of political science, will enhance the university’s study of Israel and the Middle East in conjunction with the work of a new Carolina Center for Jewish Studies.

Charlie Shaffer, campaign co-chair, said such commitments marked 2005 as another exceptional year for Carolina First. The university has raised more than $150 million each year since 2000.

"The campaign has maintained a phenomenal pace, and this year has certainly built on that record," he said.

Private funds and investment income provide some 20 percent of UNC’s annual budget. That makes the continued success of Carolina First a critical piece of Carolina’s success, said Matt Kupec, vice chancellor for advancement, who is leading the campaign.

"What we’ve achieved so far is a credit to the generosity of our donors and the hard work of our campaign volunteers, development staff, faculty and administrators," he said. "Thanks to them, we’re primed to keep the momentum rolling."

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Web link: http://carolinafirst.unc.edu/

Office of University Development Contact: Scott Ragland, (919) 962-0027, scott_ragland@unc.edu

News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu