Year-end giving boosts student and faculty support
By Rebecca M. “Becky” Hoover
Director of Development
Thank you Donors! If year-end philanthropy at the College of Journalism and Communications is a sign of the times,we are all in for a good year! The College received nearly $800,000 in gifts and commitments from industry, alumni and family foundations in December. The College is particularly grateful to the McClatchy Company, which is funding a $600,000 professorship in freedom of information, and to the Ruebush Foundation, which gave $100,000 to support undergraduate scholarships and graduate assistantships.
A $52,000 annuity gift from Stuart Newman, JM 1946, will ultimately provide unrestricted funds for the College; a $10,000 gift from Michael and Linda Connelly, both JM 1980, will support professional development activities of faculty and students; and Debra Nouss, TEL 1981, and Mark Nouss, BSAC 1981/JD 1985, completed their $50,000 pledge with a $10,000 gift in support of graduate students.These gifts were additions to already established funds. Scholarships and assistantships were also buoyed by the Fitchett Foundation, which pledged $20,000.
All of these gifts support a core goal of the College – increased funding for our students and faculty. Students and faculty are the heart of any great academic institution. The College aims to provide the support it takes to retain our best teacher-scholars and to recruit the very best students and faculty.These wonderful gifts will help us do just that. THANK YOU!
Many thanks also go to the 1,297 alumni who said YES! during the annual fall phonathon.We are still counting, but as of February, nearly $150,000 was raised in gifts, pledges and matching funds.An additional $10,000 is expected to be raised during the spring 2004 mailing.We hope you will use your Gator mailing labels with pride knowing that you made a contribution to your alma mater.
Annual fund gifts are extremely important to the College. They support diverse student and faculty professional and academic activities including competitions, campaigns, state, national and international conference attendance/presentations, computers and other instructional equipment, supplies, scholarships, career services and more.
Our annual fund offers four levels of giving – Friends – up to $499; Partners – $500 to $999; Patrons – $1,000 to $4,999 and the Dean’s Circle – $5,000 or more. If you are new to annual giving, we hope you will join in support of the College at a level that makes you “s-t-r-e-t-c-h” a little. If you are already a friend,we hope you’ll become a partner; a partner, a patron; and a patron, a member of the Dean’s Circle!
We expect about a 15 percent increase in annual fund giving this year.Thank you for your loyal and increased support!
If you would like more information about philanthropy and how you can help the College, please contact me at (352) 846-2411 or by e-mail at rhoover@jou.ufl.edu.
