News Release

UNC’s fund-raising excellence
honored for eighth time in 12 years

CHAPEL HILL – For the eighth time in the past 12 years, a national organization that supports educational advancement efforts has honored the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for its fund-raising success.

UNC received a 2005 CASE/ID Wealth Award for Educational Fund Raising in the category of "Overall Performance." CASE stands for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, which works with educational institutions to enhance their alumni-relations, communications and development efforts.

A selection committee reviewed fund-raising results from more than 4,000 institutions and selected the winners based on the overall strength of their fund-raising program. Only 45 other institutions were selected, and Carolina ranked among just eight major research institutions receiving the award. The others were Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University, Ohio State University, Michigan University and the University of California at San Francisco.

Carolina is the only university to receive eight awards in 12 years. Stanford, Harvard University and the University of Virginia have each received seven awards.

"We’re very pleased to receive this honor," said Matt Kupec, vice chancellor for University Advancement. "It’s a testament to the good work being done by our development staff and campaign volunteers, as well as our faculty and administrators. And it shows just how much our donors believe in the mission of this place."

CASE and its predecessor organizations have recognized exceptional development programs each year since 1959. In 2002, Wealth ID, a provider of wealth screening services and fund-raising solutions, joined CASE as a sponsor of the Educational Fund Raising Awards. The awards program recognizes Overall Performance and Overall Improvement in educational fund-raising programs based on data submitted to the Council for Aid to Education’s "Voluntary Support of Education" survey.

The university claimed this year’s Overall Performance distinction against the backdrop of the Carolina First Campaign, the comprehensive, multi-year campaign to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university.

The drive is well on the way to reaching its $1.8 billion goal, having raised $1.52 billion as of July 25. That amounted to 85 percent of the goal, with just 76 percent of the campaign completed.

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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