UF brought in $414 million in donations over the last fiscal year.
This is the third consecutive time that private giving to the university has surpassed $400 million, said Joe Mandernach, senior associate vice president and chief development officer for UF. A total of 73,929 alumni and friends made gifts.
The largest single donation was for $10 million from Jon and Beverly Thompson of Fort Myers, Mandernach said.
This was the fourth year of the university’s eight-year “Go Greater” campaign, Mandernach said. UF hopes to raise $3 billion by the end of the campaign.
“I think the excitement that has been generated by the September announcement that UF was a top 10 public institution was a clear push to the support,” Mandernach said.
Student Government will be working to foster alumni participation moving forward with Student Body President Ian Green’s announcement about a launch of the “Class Council Agency.”
The agency will help UF as it reaches for a top five public schools ranking from U.S. News & World Report, Green said. The program will be headed by a chairperson and elect a class president to the sophomore, junior and senior classes of undergraduate enrollment.
The chairperson will be appointed by Green and require confirmation from the Student Senate.
The idea for the council is modeled after institutions like the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Virginia, which are already ranked in the top five.
The hope is that the council can teach students the importance of giving back to the UF community, Green said.
“And so, if you know and have a desire to give back even before you graduate, once you do graduate, you’re going to immediately give back, and that’s going to increase our (alumni participation rate),” Green said.
Follow Gillian Sweeney on Twitter @gilliangsweeney and contact her at gsweeney@alligator.org.
