UF’s $500 Million Fund-Raising Drive Unveiled With Half Already In Bank

September 17, 1997

GAINESVILLE —The University of Florida officially unveils its $500 million capital campaign this weekend with a series of events and the announcement that fund-raisers are already halfway to their goal.

With a theme of It’s Performance that Counts, university officials plan to raise a half billion dollars by the year 2000 to help increase graduate enrollment and support, expand research investments and dividends and upgrade the level of teaching at UF.

In all, organizers hope to add $70 million in faculty endowments and sponsored professorships, $80 million in added financial aid for graduate and undergraduate students, $135 million in enhanced educational and research facilities, $124 million in endowments for centers and programs and $91 million to improve current programs.

“The performance of this campaign is vital to the university’s continuing commitment to improve teaching and research,” said UF President John Lombardi. “No top-level university today can excel without a growing base of private support.”

Lombardi will welcome U.S. Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) on Saturday for the campaign keynote address during a luncheon at Powell Hall at 11 a.m. Lombardi will announce the campaign total so far, and Mack will speak about volunteering and the importance of private support for public institutions.

Both subjects are vital to UF’s campaign, which began quietly on Jan. 1, 1996, and has grown steadily around a performance-based agenda that is not only behind the fund raising, but also behind the teaching and research missions at UF.

“To succeed, we must perform, we must be efficient and we must produce first-rank quality in all that we do,” Lombardi said.

In the university’s first capital campaign that ended in 1991, UF raised $392.6 million — more than $140 million over its announced goal.

Paul Robell, UF’s vice president for development and alumni affairs, said the respect and support for UF is strong enough to warrant a $500 million campaign.

“Our permanent endowment has risen to more than $340 million, and it ranks No. 16 in size among all public universities,” Robell said. “We hope to raise that level through the It’s Performance That Counts campaign that is part of President Lombardi’s goal of total accountability at UF. As part of that program, we don’t simply ask for gifts to the university. We ask for investments and we tell our campaign supporters why we need your money, how we will manage it and what the gift has accomplished.”

To reach their goal, campaign co-chairmen John Higdon and Allen Lastinger have arranged a team of volunteers with keen business minds and experience with fund raising.

Louise Courtelis of Town and Country Farm in McIntosh helped organize the campaign kickoff dinner, a black-tie fund-raising event Friday night that organizers believe may be the first major university campaign kickoff to be a successful fund-raiser for the institution.

Dubbed the “Soiree at the Swamp,” the event will bring an extra $2 million to the campaign. Many of UF’s biggest supporters will be on hand — where $250 is the minimum price for dinner. The event takes place in the Florida Gym, which will be transformed into a tree-lined “swamp” with tables.

Performances by College of Fine Arts students will entertain the evening’s guests, as will a fireworks show following dinner.

Campaign volunteers and organizers will be recognized, as will Brooksville businessman and longtime UF supporter Alfred McKethan, the honorary campaign chairman.

“The state of Florida and UF have assumed a significant position in the economic, political and educational framework of the country,” Lastinger said. “We have the opportunity to invest in that position to see UF achieve its potential.”