Giving/Financial Statistics
During fiscal year 2010 (July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010), University of Iowa alumni and friends made gifts of all sizes to support vital educational, research, and service activities throughout the University. Because of this remarkable outpouring of support, UI students, faculty, and staff have resources available to ensure that they can learn, teach, create, and discover with excellence and innovation. Through this support, careers are developed, breakthroughs are made, and Iowans—and the global society in which they live—are served. The University of Iowa Foundation and the University are profoundly grateful for each and every gift.
More contributors than ever before—73,332—made gifts to the UI Foundation in support of the UI in fiscal year 2010; the number of givers was up nearly 10,000 over the previous fiscal year. The number of individual gifts made to the UI Foundation (119,706) also increased by double digits—16.7 percent—over the previous year.
In a year marked by an uneven economic recovery, the UI Foundation received $91.6 million in gifts of cash and cash equivalents, gifts in kind, and realized estate gifts—an increase of 6.5 percent over the previous year and the Foundation's second-best year in gifts received. In addition, the Foundation received approximately $78 million in future gift commitments (pledges, trusts, bequests) during fiscal year 2010. The Foundation's total productivity for fiscal year 2010 (including gifts received and gift commitments received) was approximately $169.6 million—the Foundation's third-best year in total productivity.
Private gifts and grants made directly to the UI (as opposed to being made through the UI Foundation, the preferred channel for giving in support of all UI areas) in fiscal year 2010 totaled $21 million, bringing combined UI and UI Foundation fundraising productivity for the year to $190.6 million.
The 73,332 contributors who made gifts or gift commitments during fiscal year 2010 included 30,256 alumni; 41,024 non-alumni; and 2,052 businesses, foundations, and other organizations. Almost 3,100 University of Iowa faculty and staff made gifts in fiscal year 2010.
Contributors directed their gifts to programs and projects campus-wide, including to student support (19.8 percent), faculty support (12.9 percent), capital support (17.7 percent), program support (49 percent), and unrestricted support (0.6 percent).
UI Foundation Endowment
An endowment provides financial support for immediate and future needs of The University of Iowa. Endowed funds may be unrestricted, which means they can be used wherever the need is greatest, or specified for use in a particular UI college, department, or program. Unlike legislative appropriations or annual contributions, endowed funds are invested to protect their “purchasing power” so that over the long term, the fund will fulfill the donor’s specified purpose.
Endowment Investment Performance and Asset Growth
The investment return on the UI Foundation’s long-term pool was 17.3 percent for fiscal year 2010. The average annual rate of return for the 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods ending June 30, 2010, was -5.0 percent, 1.5 percent, and 3.4 percent, respectively.
At the end of fiscal year 2010 (June 30, 2010), the UI Foundation endowment was $610 million. In addition to the UI Foundation endowment, the separate University endowment ended the fiscal year at $226 million.
Endowment Oversight
The UI Foundation Investment Committee is responsible for guiding the Foundation’s investment program, and oversees the endowment. Investment Committee members are appointed by the UI Foundation Board of Directors and are selected based on experience and expertise in the areas of business, finance, and investments. Subject to oversight by the board of directors, the Investment Committee establishes investment procedures and policies, asset allocation, and selects investment consultants and managers.
The investment objective of the UI Foundation long-term pool is to seek maximum total return consistent with the preservation of principal, diversification, and avoidance of excessive risk. The Investment Committee exercises reasonable care, skill, and caution with regard to the Foundation’s investment of funds in the context of the entire portfolio which incorporates risk and return objectives reasonably suitable to the purposes of the Foundation. The assets are managed in a manner that seeks to meet these investment objectives, while at the same time attempting to reduce volatility in year-to-year spending.