April 27, 2000
KALAMAZOO -- With three months remaining in the 1999-2000 fiscal year, Western Michigan University has already surpassed the total of cash gifts received during all of the previous fiscal year by more than $3.2 million.
According to a report presented to the WMU Board of Trustees at its April 20 meeting, cash gifts received by the WMU Foundation during the 1999-2000 fiscal year, which began July 1, 1999, stand at $12,088,346. That constitutes an increase of more than $3.6 million compared to the same nine-month period of the preceding fiscal year.
The Paper Technology Foundation, which supports the internationally known paper programs at WMU, reported fiscal year-to-date cash gifts of $1,406,729. That figure is more than five times the $272,784 received during the first nine months of the 1998-99 fiscal year.
Combining the totals reported by the two foundations to the Board of Trustees, the fiscal year-to-date cash gifts to the University increased by 54 percent compared to the same period one year ago, to a total of $13,495,075 as of March 31. The cash-gift total for all of 1998-99 was $10.2 million.
From January through March, cash gifts received by the WMU Foundation totaled $3,609,641. An additional $631,100 was received through the Paper Technology Foundation, bringing the three-month total in cash gifts to WMU to $4.2 million.
Four gifts of $250,000 or more were received from January through March.
An anonymous donor contributed $602,000 in January to support resources and services for students with disabilities.
In March, a partial distribution of $400,000 was received from the estate of Ruth M. Scherer for the Milton E. and Ruth M. Scherer Endowment Fund. Proceeds from the Scherer endowment will go to the Department of Geography for the geographical research and study of the Pacific Basin.
Purchase of a Paciolan Ticketing System was supported with an anonymous gift of $250,000. The Paciolan system, housed at WMU, is an integrated ticketing network that will be used by arts organizations throughout the Greater Kalamazoo area.
An anonymous contribution of $500,000 was received in March to support research in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Department of Paper and Printing Science and Engineering.
The following were also among the cash gifts reported to the Board of Trustees on April 20.
With the single exception of gifts to the paper science program, which are received through the Paper Technology Foundation, all gifts to Western Michigan University are received through the WMU Foundation, which was incorporated in 1976 to provide and promote private support for the University.
Media contact: Thom Myers, 616 387-8400, thomas.myers@wmich.edu
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