Up Front | President's Column

December 2001: Vol. 81, No. 1

Fundraising provides degree of excellence

he annual budget for the University of Georgia now exceeds $1 billion and is comprised of a complex and fluid mix of funding from a variety of sources. And while this is a public institution—and proud to be one—less than half of our budget, approximately 41 percent, comes from the state of Georgia. The remaining 59 percent comes from a variety of sources, including private gifts, research funding, and other external funding mechanisms. Especially in times of economic uncertainty, when state budgets and revenues may not be as strong as they have been in the past, broadening our financial base—diversifying our portfolio, if you will—is critical.

Michael F. Adams

Two of the areas we rely on for support experienced great success last year. We had our second-best fundraising year ever, with almost $55 million in gifts and pledges committed to support UGA students, programs, and strategic goals. The number of new pledges, a key indicator of increased future support, more than doubled over the previous year. And I am particularly pleased that the Annual Fund, recently renamed the Georgia Fund, set a new record with $7.1 million in gifts and pledges.

These figures tell us there is great enthusiasm for the University of Georgia, and they reflect our growing stature in academic quality and reputation. Many of you reading this are part of our fundraising success story, and, on behalf of the University of Georgia community, I thank you. Your support is critical to carrying forward our missions of teaching, research, and service.

We were also very successful during the past fiscal year in attracting outside funding for University research—which is often the most difficult part of our mission for the general public to understand. Reports of major breakthroughs in health, medicine, agriculture, and chemistry are widely reported by the media, but so are reports of research proposals and grants that appear, on the surface, to be a waste of money. The lasting impression, in some people's minds, is that research is an all-or-nothing proposition, successful only when helping to cure a disease.

Let me assure you that research at the University of Georgia—and at our peer institutions—is targeted, strategic, and addressing critical problems facing society today. UGA's $272 million research expenditure budget also has a direct impact on the economy of this state through job creation, product improvement, and technological advancements.

Research at UGA attracted $120 million in external funding last year, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year and more than double what was reported in 1990. UGA researchers were awarded several significant grants during the year, including $23 million for a five-year study of the structure of proteins led by B.C. Wang; $5.6 million for a multi-year study of reading education by Linda Labbo of the College of Education; and $3.1 million over five years for Gene Brody's study of alcohol use among African-American young people.

Of particular note last year was an almost 75 percent increase in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The University of Georgia is at the forefront of some very important cancer research, including Michael Pierce's research into the triggers that allow cancer to spread throughout the body. Our success in attracting funding from these two federal agencies is no surprise to those of us who know the quality of our faculty's proposals, the caliber of their research, and the significance of their findings. There will be more announcements like these, not fewer.

Your support for the University of Georgia allows you to take even more pride in the successes of this institution. You support us through the Alumni Association, through the Athletic Association, through the Redcoat Band and the Georgia Museum of Art, through thousands of gifts to individual components of this great university that have particular meaning to you. Each and every gift makes an impact and becomes part of a larger phenomenon, one that is propelling UGA into the upper ranks of American public universities.

There is no such thing as cheap excellence. This university will only be as good as our supporters want it to be. Success breeds success, as our research efforts have shown. Successful research proposals from several years ago mean that today's proposals from UGA faculty get noticed. I anticipate that our recent success in fundraising will have the same effect, and we will begin to build a cycle of fundraising success.