Campaign zooms past original goal a year early

The Campaign for the Next Century, the largest-ever fundraising campaign in the University's history, has surpassed its original $500 million goal a full year ahead of schedule.

As of June 30, the close of the fiscal year, the campaign had reached $512,146,726, the most ever raised by any Chicago institution in a single campaign.

The five-year campaign began in 1991 and was scheduled to reach its original goal of $500 million by June 30, 1996. The campaign has been so successful that the Board of Trustees voted earlier this year to increase its goal to $650 million, to be raised by the same date.

"This enthusiastic support for the University is enormously gratifying," said President Sonnenschein. "Increasing our campaign goal to $650 million was a bold step. Our friends and alumni in Chicago and beyond are helping us meet that challenge, as demonstrated by the increased rate of giving since we announced our new target."

Campaign Chairman Harvey Plotnick, a University Trustee, said the campaign will now focus on three areas critical to the University's future: endowed support for faculty positions, endowed support for student fellowships and scholarships, and funds for the construction of a new athletic center.

Most of the fundraising support has come from individual donors, who have donated more than $309 million through the campaign. More than $66 million of that total has been given by Trustees of the University.

Among the most recent contributions are a $1 million gift from a prominent Chicago couple and a total of $5 million in grants to develop a leading center of Korean studies.

The $1 million gift is from Mr. and Mrs. Richard Franke. Richard Franke is Chairman and CEO of John Nuveen and Company Inc. and a University Trustee. The Frankes' gift will be used to support programs in the humanities at the University. This is the Frankes' second major gift to the campaign. They have also endowed the Barbara E. and Richard J. Franke Professorship in the Humanities, which is held by Arjun Appadurai, Professor in South Asian Languages & Civilizations and Director of the Chicago Humanities Institute.

The new grants for Korean studies come from the Korea Foundation and from Jong-Hyon Chey, chairman of Korea's Sunkyong Group. They will be used to create three faculty positions to study Korea's sociology, history and literature and to increase the University's already substantial library of books on Korea. (See story on page 1.)

Among the largest gifts to the campaign are those from the Richard Duchossois family, Mr. and Mrs. Jules Knapp and Irving Harris. The Duchossois gift is supporting the construction of the University's new Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine, the Knapps have supported the creation of the Jules F. Knapp Medical Research Center and the Gwen Knapp Center for Lupus & Immunology Research, and Irving Harris has provided support for the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies. In addition, an anonymous donor has provided a large gift toward the construction of a new athletic center and swimming pool.

The University was honored last month for its fundraising excellence by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Chicago was one of only six private research universities honored. The others are Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Columbia and Notre Dame.