UF’s Capital Campaign Ends With Goal-Breaking $850 Million Total

January 10, 2001

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida has ended its five-year capital campaign with a record-setting $850.4 million, eclipsing both its original and revised goals, university officials announced today.

The campaign, entitled “It’s Performance That Counts,” started in 1996 to support university programs, faculty support, facilities, scholarships and endowment. The most successful fund-raising effort in the university’s history far surpassed the original target of $500 million, which was increased to $750 million in 1998.

Then-president John Lombardi spearheaded the beginning of the campaign with his belief that the university was primed to join the ranks of the top public universities conducting large-scale fund raising. Lombardi’s original expectations were far exceeded, and current President Charles Young closed out the campaign with the same confidence in UF’s future.

“The University of Florida and everyone who supported this campaign have a lot to be proud of today,” Young said during a ceremony held at the foot of the university’s Century Tower. “The success of this campaign is clearly a sign that we are truly among the elite public universities in our support and potential. The investments made to this campaign will produce impressive results for many years to come.”

The success of the campaign also can be attributed to more than 1,100 volunteers who served on campaign committees for the 23 individual colleges and units of the university, and in regions throughout the United States, helping coordinate all phases of the campaign.

“A capital campaign of this magnitude requires an immense volunteer effort to succeed,” said John Higdon, co-chairman of the campaign. “The momentum that developed during the campaign was truly a sign that alumni and friends of the University of Florida want to invest in this institution’s success.”

State support for the university accounts for only about 30 percent of the annual operating budget. Much of the remaining balance comes from private gifts, grants and income from endowment.

“In many ways, what the University of Florida has demonstrated through this private fund-raising drive is a model of what all public universities need to be doing to continue developing and strengthening our country’s colleges and universities,” said Allen Lastinger, co-chairman of the campaign and president of the University of Florida Foundation board of directors. “Private support from individuals and corporations is and will be key to institutions like ours who want to measure up with the best.”

Though the campaign is officially over, the fund raising will continue. Some campaign initiatives have not reached their funding goals, including the library system, scholarship funds for undergraduate and graduate students, international programs and technology improvements. University administrators currently are identifying additional needs.