Foundation Completes Second-Highest Fund-Raising Year by Phyllis Peters and Steve Sullivan The Iowa State University Foundation raised $63.7 million in the 1994-95 fiscal year, which is the second-highest annual fund-raising total in the university's history. The $63.7 million includes all gifts, pledges and deferred commitments raised in the 12-month period that ended June 30. More than 44,000 alumni and friends provided financial support to ISU during the last fiscal year. "This kind of support shows the commitment Iowa State alumni and friends have to higher education," said President Martin Jischke. "It is commitment that will help Iowa State University achieve its goal of becoming the nation's premier land-grant university." ISU's 1994-95 fund-raising total is a 4.5 percent increase over the 1993-94 fiscal year, said Foundation President Murray Blackwelder. ISU's top fund-raising year was 1992-93, the final year of the record-setting Partnership for Prominence campaign, which posted $74.3 million in private gifts and pledges. "We set a goal at the foundation just a few years ago when we embarked on an ambitious capital campaign, and that goal was to first raise the level of private support for our university, and then to sustain that elevated level from year to year," Blackwell said. This year's total includes a $5 million gift from the Lied Foundation Trust, Las Vegas, Nev. The gift provided the incentive for the university to launch a $26 million President's Scholarship Campaign. More than $9 million was raised in new scholarship gifts this year, accounting for the largest increase in an area for which private gifts are sought, Blackwelder said. The $5 million gift already has provided scholarship awards to 105 new freshman students, who were selected as Christina Hixson Opportunity Award recipients. Hixson, a native Iowan, is the sole trustee of the Lied Foundation. Another $1.3 million in endowment gifts raised for the George Washington Carver Fund will provide scholarships to minority students who will be freshmen in the fall. For the second year in a row, donors contributed more than $8 million toward Iowa State's intercollegiate athletic program. More than $21 million, or 33 percent of the gifts raised, was designated by donors for one of Iowa State's eight colleges or the university library. Also during the past fiscal year, the 4-H Foundation launched its $2.3 million capital fund- raising drive and WOI Radio raised more than $536,000 in private contributions. These areas are included in the foundation's fund-raising program. Of the private giving total reported by the ISU Foundation, the $63.7 million was raised from several components, including $39.7 million in outright gifts; $12.6 million in deferred commitments; and more than $11 million in gift pledges. _____ contact: Phyllis Peters, ISU Foundation, (515) 294-8681 Steve Sullivan, News Service (515) 294-3720 updated: 7-28-95