Michigan State University’s faculty, staff and retirees made such significant contributions to MSU’s record-breaking fundraising year last year, that they they set records of their own.
At nearly $25 million, gifts to MSU from current and former faculty and staff in fiscal year 2016 were the most in MSU’s history, the highest reported in the Big Ten and fourth highest of the American Association of Universities.
The total of outright gifts, pledges, in-kind gifts and estate gifts from MSU faculty, staff and retirees to MSU added up to $24,945,566 as the fiscal year closed on June 30.
According to the Council for Aid to Education’s 2015 Benchmarking Report, among the Big Ten universities that report on the cash received from current and former faculty and staff, MSU is in the top position, ahead of Ohio State, Rutgers, Minnesota, Iowa, Maryland, Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
Among the 60-member AAU universities that reported, MSU had the fourth highest giving from current and former staff and faculty.
“Team MSU – our faculty, staff, and retirees – is critical to our success as a university in so many ways,” said President Lou Anna K. Simon. “We are grateful that their dedication is also overwhelmingly evident in their generosity, which will impact our university far into the future and lead the way for others to invest in us as well.”
Since July 1, 2011, when MSU began counting in the Empower Extraordinary campaign, the collective support of Team MSU totals more than $84.3 million – nearly 7 percent of all dollars raised in the campaign. To date, more than 12,000 MSU faculty, staff and retirees have made a campaign gift.
“No one knows MSU better than the people who work here,” said Bob Groves, vice president for University Advancement. “The support of faculty, staff and retirees instills confidence in the broader community of alumni and friends. Our unprecedented fundraising success really reflects Team MSU’s good work and commitment which extends far beyond our professional contributions every day.”