Albuquerque Journal

$85.5M Is Double Figure 4 Years Ago
By Martin Salazar, Journal Staff Writer

The University of New Mexico Foundation set yet another fundraising record, raising $85.5 million in private money for the university during President David Schmidly’s inaugural year.

“We far exceeded the goal in fundraising,” foundation board chairwoman Thelma Domenici told regents last week.

The $85.5 million is more than twice the amount UNM raised just four years ago and $13 million more than last year’s record-breaking $72.5 million.

Regents had set $80 million as the fundraising goal for Schmidly and the foundation.

“Our fundraising success this year is an integral part of our overall aim to focus on student success, on retaining our faculty and on building healthy communities,” Schmidly said in a news release. “I am grateful for the trust our donors are placing in us.”

The vast majority of the contributions were raised before UNM hired John Stropp, a friend of Schmidly’s who was chief administrative officer at the Texas A&M Foundation.

“I think it was a tremendously successful year,” Stropp said.

“Another major item we’re noting is the increase each year in the number of donors. We increased that number from 19,500 last year to 20,330,” Stropp added. “But the most important thing is that over the last four years … we have in effect doubled the amount of funding, and that’s incredible.”

Domenici said the record-breaking year represents tremendous momentum as the foundation prepares for the upcoming multi-year capital campaign. The foundation plans to hire a firm to help launch a pre-campaign feasibility study, Domenici told regents. The foundation has floated the figure of $500 million over a sixyear period, but has yet to formally set its goal.

Referring to Stropp as a “heavyweight,” UNM Regents President Jamie Koch predicted the amount raised
during the current fiscal year will surpass the $85.5 million mark “considerably.”

At Schmidly’s request, the UNM Foundation is undergoing a reorganization geared toward providing a more centralized, better coordinated and more effective fundraising organization.

As part of the reorganization, the foundation will directly employ its own staff rather than having them under the UNM umbrella. Domenici told regents the majority of employees should be transferred to the foundation between September and January 2009.