Giving to Purdue hits record $451.5 million

Other 2017-18 giving records include number of donors, dollars raised for student support and number of $1 million-plus gifts.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A record 86,176 Purdue donors gave to Purdue University during the fiscal year that ended June 30, pushing 2017-18 to an all-time-high $451.5 million raised for the year.

It marks the first time in Purdue’s history that contributors — alumni, faculty, staff, retirees, students, parents and friends, and corporations and foundations — have donated more than $400 million in one year. The total includes a record $88.2 million for student support and boosts “Ever True: The Campaign for Purdue University” to $1.964 billion toward its $2.019 billion goal.

This also is the fifth consecutive year the number of donors has increased and the sixth straight year that the total raised for student support has increased. Giving to Purdue has more than doubled since the start of the “Ever True” campaign.

Vice President for Development Amy Noah said, “This outpouring of generosity equips Purdue for even greater excellence, and it brings powerful momentum to the final year of our ‘Ever True’ campaign. We are grateful for the thousands of supporters who are each helping Purdue take the next giant leap.”

The seven-year “Ever True” campaign’s silent phase began July 1, 2012. The campaign was publicly announced Oct. 9, 2015, and it concludes June 30, 2019, during the university’s 150th anniversary year.

Records that Purdue donors set this year include:

• Total dollars raised: $451.5 million, topping last year’s record of $351.9 million.

• Number of individual donors: 86,176, up from last year’s 85,465.

• Dollars raised for student support: $88.2 million, up from last year’s $75.4 million and already surpassing the campaign goal of doubling annual student support from $33.5 million at the start of “Ever True.”

• Number of gifts of $1 million or more: 78, accounting for $289.0 million in donations.

• Largest single-day fundraising campaign in higher education: $37.6 million from Purdue Day of Giving, which included participation from all 50 states and 58 countries around the world.

Areas of focus for fundraising for 2018-19 include a facility for STEM teaching labs, scheduled to open in 2020, and a beautification project to install seating areas along State Street, commemorating the university’s 150th anniversary. Fundraising will continue for additional endowed gifts to match both the Walther Cancer Foundation’s $10 million matching-funds contribution in support of the Purdue Center for Cancer Research and $7 million in available matching-funds from Regenstrief Foundation in support of Purdue’s Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering.

Fundraising efforts will also continue to focus on student support and faculty support, including endowed funds for faculty and support for Purdue’s 150th Anniversary Professorships, which recognize master teachers.       

To date, 190,206 donors have participated in “Ever True,” the largest capital campaign in Purdue’s history. The total surpasses the nearly 184,000 donors to “The Campaign for Purdue,” which ended in 2007. Forty-six percent of donors to “Ever True” had never given to the university before the campaign.

Funds raised through “Ever True” to date include $397.6 million for student support, $575.3 million for programs, $412.0 million for faculty, $238.6 million for facilities and $340.5 million for other, unrestricted initiatives.

Contact: Lisa Tally, assistant vice president for philanthropic communications, 765-494-2181, lhtally@prf.org

Source: Amy Noah, 765-494-1704, arnoah@prf.org

Note to Journalists: An overall release on Purdue University’s record year in research and partnerships, and in donations, is available here.