EMU records banner year in University Fund giving and other donations

Eastern Mennonite University recorded the third-highest record total for University Fund donations during fiscal year 2015-16.

Gifts to the University Fund totaled $1,792,142, an increase of 4.5 percent over last year. The fund helps provide financial assistance to students and other annual operating expenses.

“It is especially gratifying to know that more than 3,200 donors and alumni stand strong with EMU and the bold mission we serve,” said Kirk Shisler, vice president of advancement.

Total giving of $5.7 million

Total giving to EMU for the 2015-16 fiscal year was nearly $5.7 million, which includes University Fund giving as well as $2.6 million in restricted contributions, grants and bequests to support a wide range of programs and projects of the university.

This total includes support for the athletics program and more than $350,000 of contributions toward the eventual renovation of the track and field and baseball facilities.

Suter renovations support new engineering major

More than $500,000 was accrued in new contributions to Phase II of the Suter Science Center campaign. These contributions total approximately $1.5 million committed toward the $4 million goal required to renovate Suter West. [Watch a video about the renovations and Phase II.]

Suter West renovations will support EMU’s new engineering major with several labs and spaces for faculty/student collaboration; a new welcoming and open west entrance to lead visitors into the S-106 lecture hall, to be named in honor of President Emeritus Loren Swartzendruber and his wife, Pat; and renovated space for The Ralph D. Hostetler Museum. [Watch a video about S-106.]

Gift plans increase

“EMU is especially fortunate to have a donor constituency of alumni and friends who support the institution in three significant ways,” says Shisler. “[This happens] through consistent annual giving, through periodic capital giving to support our capital projects, and, increasingly, through people incorporating EMU into estate plans to make a major gift to EMU at the end of their lives.”

During the fiscal year, EMU’s endowment fund benefited from 288 gifts. New endowment gifts totaled $1,252,000 including several gifts over $100,000 to support endowed scholarships for students.

Nineteen new deferred gift plans were established totaling over $900,000 of future bequests to EMU, much of which will fund various endowment funds of the university.

During the past year, EMU received nearly $1.2 million in bequests from the estates of 20 alumni and friends. The university’s heritage society (currently known as Jubilee Friends) includes 524 members. Jubilee Friends are donors who have included EMU in their long-term estate plans.

Faculty and staff support

Faculty and staff continue to give generously to EMU. A 55 percent participation rate is reported, with 233 faculty staff contributing $212,812. This is an increase over last year’s participation of 199.

Additionally, 77 retired faculty and staff contributed a sum of $473,000.

“EMU continues to benefit from a very loyal core of alumni donors and individual friends of the university,” said Shisler. “We are very pleased to report that our efforts to increase the giving participation of alumni and current parents continues to bear fruit.”

EMU’s alumni giving rate for traditional undergraduates is 20 percent, well above the national average for all universities (8.3%) and comparing favorably to EMU’s peer institutions in Virginia as well as other Mennonite colleges.