Alumni Association & Foundation sees second-best fundraising year ever

Fiscal year that ended June 30 saw donors give $72.4 million

The UND Alumni Association & Foundation (UNDAAF) raised its second highest fundraising total ever in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022. The news was announced Aug. 23 at the State of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation Address, attended by about 250 people in person and online.

The near-record total, second only to the FY20 total of $80.1 million, was achieved without an outsized major eight-figure gift.

“The total for Fiscal Year 2022 was accomplished with the collective might of our alumni and friends,” said DeAnna Carlson Zink, CEO of the UNDAAF. “Gifts from 8,855 donors ranged from $5 to the largest gift of $3.5 million.”

Other highlights from Fiscal Year 2022:

• 1,282 first-time donors, an increase of 575 from the previous fiscal year.

• 10 new faculty endowments added, bringing the total on campus to 54

• In the 10 years the UNDAFF has been in the Gorecki Alumni Center, $525.8 million has been raised for the benefit of UND students

• Endowment support to UND of $11.1 million, highest of the past five years.

“The collective “we” is expanding at the University of North Dakota,” said Carson Zink, “and that means the good we can do together grows as well. We are so thankful for the generosity of our alumni and friends who want to see UND students excel.”

One initiative highlighted at the Address was the UND Angel Fund, which helps students with emergency needs. The fund has awarded more than $300,000 since the pandemic began with gifts coming from more than 500 donors.

“I appreciate it more than they [donors] would ever know,” said Angel Fund recipient Kelsey Dukart of Dickinson, N.D. “It might seem like a little bit to them, but to me it was huge and life changing. It made it so I was able to graduate on time, which was huge for me.”

Dukart graduated earlier this month with a degree in social work.

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2022 State of the Alumni Association & Foundation Address

Transcript

Video Plays

(drone flies in over arch to DeAnna standing by union)

Hi, I’m DeAnna Carlson Zink, CEO of the UND Alumni Association and Foundation. Come with me for a little walk through the heart of campus along this newly created grand pedestrian walkway. I want to show you some of the projects that have transformed UND.

(move from arch to farther down by Memorial Union)

The ribbon-cutting for the new Memorial Union was held during Homecoming 2021 and the building has exceeded expectations as the heart and soul of the campus experience.

All thanks to the student body who voted in 2018 to pay for the construction with their fees.

(move to next stop: Chester Fritz Library)

If the Union is in the heart of campus, then the library is its brain. The Chester Fritz library has undergone a renovation that transformed its entry and provides modern study and collaboration spaces.

(move to Nistler)

Years in the making, the Nistler College of Business & Public Administration building is finally open to students this fall at the corner of Centennial and University. It’s a true gem of a building and sets the College apart from peer institutions. We are so happy for our students and grateful to Werner and Colleen Nistler and all of the donors who made this building a reality.

(Walk to Gorecki)

The demolition of West and McVey has led to construction this summer west of the coulee.

Students will be moving into the new McVey in November.

So, we end our walk here at the Gorecki Alumni Center – which, while it looks brand new, has actually been our home on campus for the past 10 years. In the first nine years, we raised $452 million for the benefit of UND students. You are about to find out if our latest fiscal year numbers will push us over the half-billion dollar mark!

(DeAnna enters room, addresses audience)

That is a beautiful walk through the heart of campus that showcases some wonderful examples of what we can accomplish when we work together for the common goal of enhancing the student experience.

Each one was funded differently from the next. The Memorial Union was paid for by students, the library renovation used a longstanding endowment fund, the Nistler through private donations and a partnership with the state. The residence halls across the street are a different type of private/public partnership, and the pathway I walked is part of a larger beautification effort by the University.

This building, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, was entirely funded by private donations.

Through a variety of funding mechanisms, “we” are getting things accomplished on the UND campus!

A multitude of gifts

Welcome to the State of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation Address. Thank you for being here this evening in-person and a special welcome to those joining us via livestream.

A special thanks to our event’s sponsors: the city of Grand Forks, The University of North Dakota, and Happy Harry’s Bottle Shops.

As a fundraising organization, it is no secret that we trumpet the arrival of large multi-million-dollar gifts from our extremely generous and philanthropic alumni and friends.

These “lead” gifts can make all the difference as they not only provide the needed funding at the front-end of a project but also inspire others to give as well.

An example is the lead $20 million gift provided by Werner and Colleen Nistler in 2019 to build a new building for the College of Business & Public Administration. Their donation lit the fire for a project that had long been a dream … and made it a reality. Not only did that gift convince the North Dakota Legislature to kick in $20 million, but it also inspired hundreds of alumni and friends to back the project with donations.

But while such gifts are transformational, they are also … by their very nature … rare.

Because of the collective might of many donors, we are able to offer support for facilities, faculty, and scholarships.

As a perfect example of the collective “We,” this past fiscal year, we did not have any of those blockbuster eight-figure gifts to UND, and yet we posted our second-highest fundraising total ever.

You heard that correctly. In the fiscal year that ended June 30th of this year, we received commitments of $72.4 million in gifts to the University of North Dakota. That’s the second highest total ever for this organization … trailing only the record of $80.1 million set three years ago.

This was accomplished with a multitude of gifts ranging from $5 to our largest fiscal year 2022 gift of $3.5 million.

Let’s take a closer look at this cohort of givers.

36 percent of our commitments came from within North Dakota … 16 percent from Minnesota … and the other 48 percent came from the rest of the country and world!

And the ranks of the collective “WE” is growing … 8,855 donors made gifts last fiscal year … 25 percent more than the previous fiscal year.

That means the good we can do for UND students will grow as well.

Also great news: we had nearly 13-hundred first-time donors … that was a 45 percent increase over the previous year!

I want to highlight one of those first time donors. Dr. Gopal Das is a former faculty member of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences who made an estate gift to fund an endowed chair in the School.

Gopal grew up poor in India and suffered from polio as a child. He became a cardiologist and saved to bring other members of his family to America.

In October, his family members held a small signing ceremony in Las Vegas. They learned that their generous brother was naming the chair after them, the Wadhwani Family Endowed Chair of Translational Research.

Thank you, Dr. Das

(video begins)

Thank you, Dr. Das for your generosity in establishing this endowed chair position in the School of Medicine & Health Sciences. The Wadhwani Family Endowed chair of Translational Research was one of ten endowed faculty positions created during the Fiscal Year 2022.

Those 10 new endowments lead to a 22% increase in the number of faculty endowed positions at UND.

As I mentioned, the fiscal year 2022 was our second-best fundraising year ever. In fact, we’ve had three of our highest fundraising totals in just the past four fiscal years!

From Fiscal Year 2019 to this year, our alumni and friends have donated $285 million!

In those four years, we have averaged more than 8,000 donors each year. As you can see, the collective “WE” is a large group of do-gooders who, together,  dramatically impact UND’s students, faculty and staff.

I want to highlight something I said earlier about this building, the Gorecki Alumni Center.

This fall will mark 10 years since we held the grand opening for this building at Homecoming 2012.

The “Gorecki” has been such a catalyst for our fundraising efforts. It brought us together under one roof, allowed us to expand our team and to grow as professionals to be one of the most successful fundraising organizations in North Dakota.

We owe such a debt of gratitude to Ben and Dorothy Gorecki, Glenn and Janice Gransberg, and the hundreds of other donors who gave to create this signature home for alumni on this campus.

With the fundraising added from Fiscal Year 2022, we have now raised more than half a billion dollars ($525.8 million) over the past decade while working out of this building.

(applause)

Yes, that is worthy of some applause! .

One other fun fact about the Gorecki Alumni Center: As many of you know, UND Admissions has been with us from the beginning on the first floor of the building. Over the past decade, Admissions has given tours to around 40,000 potential UND students. Including guests, 120,000 people have taken tours of UND that started in this building!

In addition, thousands and thousands of people have attended hundreds of events in this space over the past decade.

This building has truly been game-changing for the UND Alumni Association & Foundation and for the University of North Dakota.

Thank you to all who made the Gorecki Alumni Center a reality a decade ago!

Endowment up more than 25 percent over five years

While we have a lot to be thankful for, there was a small grey cloud in what was otherwise an outstanding year for the UND Alumni Association & Foundation.

Like every investor, we watched with concern as stock markets dipped around the world over the past year. And just like many of you, our portfolio, known as our endowment fund was down year to year.  Our rate of return was a minus-five-point-nine. On a positive note, however, we outperformed the S & P 500, which was down more than 12 percent during the same time period.

Despite the downturn, our endowment remains at a near-record level of $352.1 million … up more than 25% from five years ago.

This endowment fund is so important to our ongoing efforts. Each year, a percentage of the endowment is utilized to fund commitments for scholarships, program and faculty support, and priority needs across campus. This year the endowment payout was $11.1 million … the highest payout of the past five years.

The five-year impact to UND of the endowment fund is nearly $50 million.

____

So what’s in play for this new fiscal year that started July 1?

Well, we continue to fundraise for Phase 2 of the Fritz Pollard Jr. Athletic Center, and we hope to have an announcement soon that we have secured enough private funding to move forward.

Phase 1, which includes an indoor track and practice football field, has been a game-changer for UND Athletics.

This new addition will include a top-of-the-line weight room, locker rooms and more student-athlete spaces.

In two days, there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the Memorial Village project. This is another example of a P3, a public-private partnership. The developer is building a five-story structure that will have office space for UND Athletic Administration and coaches’ offices, as well as market-rate apartments on the top floors.

You are invited to attend that ceremony on Thursday at 1 p.m.

And we are working with the state of North Dakota on funding a renovation of Merrifield Hall.

Just about every student for the past almost 100 years has passed through this iconic building. Now, it’s in need of renovation. The $79 million plan is to modernize the Merrifield as well as Twamley Hall, while also preserving its historic and architectural charms of the Merrifield.

For every dollar given philanthropically, the state will kick in $2, up to $50 million.

While new and renovated buildings are important to the student experience, our focus again this fiscal year is the holistic support of students through scholarships, programming, and faculty assistance.

One of those support programs has proven to be a lifeline for some students on the verge of having to give up their dreams of a college education.

In the beginning of the pandemic, we put a focus on raising funds for the UND Angel Fund, which was put in place to help students with emergency financial needs.

Requests for help from the Angel Fund exploded in 2020. Over the past two years, more than $300,000 has been awarded to students with gifts coming from more than 500 donors.

While the pandemic is fading, the need for help is not. I’d like to call on Cassie Gerhardt, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, to join me on the stage to talk about this important program.

Questions:

1) Cassie, you are seeing these requests coming in on a weekly basis and some of them are just heart-wrenching. What is the most impactful story you’ve heard in dealing with UND Angel Fund requests?

2) Because of the strong need out there, the fund has been depleted several times, but our donors have always stepped forward to keep it going. What is your dream for the Angel Fund?

3) You are at the intersection of student need and donor intent? What have you heard from donors regarding their gifts to the Angel Fund?

Cassie, thank you for sharing the need and impact of the UND Angel Fund.

One student who recently found themselves in an emergency situation turned to the Angel Fund for help. She wanted to share her story to encourage donors … and students in need.

(Video)

(DeAnna)

That is the impact “we” have on students every day at the University of North Dakota. That is why our alumni become so passionate about supporting their alma mater.

The artist Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”

We work every day to help our donors find their philanthropic purpose … to become part of the collective “We” that gets the job done for UND and its students.

“WE DO” is a message that I’ll be carrying forward into this new school year as it’s a response to a list of accomplishments

As in:

Who leads global efforts in autonomous technology? We do.

Who educates the most indigenous doctors in the U.S? We do.

Who ranks in the top five percent of business schools worldwide? We Do

It’s also a call to action.

We don’t just talk. We do.

The institution and its students are also part of the collective “we.”

We lead …

We create …

We are leaders in action.  

Looking around the room and having seen the RSVP list for the livestream, I know that so many of you attending today are part of this movement … you have given of your time, talent and treasure.

So I ask you to stand if you are able …

You are all part of the collective “We.”

So I’m going to ask you to do something for me now that might sound a little silly or corny, but it’s going to feel so good to be a part of. I’m going to ask you three questions and I want you to respond each time with “We do!”

Who drives the success of the University of North Dakota?  “We do”

Who helps students achieve their dreams? “We do.”

Who loves the University of North Dakota?  “We do.”

“We” will succeed together. “We” make a difference in the lives of UND students. “We” are proud to be part of the UND family.

Thank you all for coming today.