Donors to LSU gave $193 million during the fiscal year that wrapped up on June 30, setting a new record and blowing away the previous record by nearly $100 million, the university announced this afternoon.
“Despite our challenges this year, LSU was able to break almost every previous fundraising record in our history by a significant margin, proving that everyone knows LSU is not only a great university, but a great investment value as well,” says LSU President F. King Alexander in a news release. “Special thanks go out, first and foremost, to our donors, and also to our development staff, deans and volunteers for their hard work in helping to make this happen.”
From July 1, 2014 through June 30, donors gave the following to LSU and its fundraising arms:
- $83.8 million directly to LSU, largely comprising LSU’s largest in-kind gift ever, premier geoscience and engineering software valued at $62 million
- $74 million through the LSU Foundation, marking the foundation’s most successful fundraising year on behalf of LSU
- $3 million through the LSU Alumni Association, including a 7% increase in members, achieving record membership of 15,000
- $32.7 million through the Tiger Athletic Foundation, an all-time high for TAF.
Giving totals last year surpassed LSU’s previous high of just over $93 million given during the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Fundraising at LSU, as detailed in a Business Report cover story from September 2014, has historically been a challenge. By almost every metric of giving to higher education, LSU lags behind its peer institutions. Its total endowment as of last fall was $425 million—less than that of Ole Miss or the University of Alabama, less than half the total of the University of Arkansas, and a fraction of the fund at the University of Michigan, for example, where donors have provided their alma mater an $8.3 billion endowment.
Fundraising has picked up at LSU in recent years. In February of last year, LSU announced it had exceeded $50 million fundraising goal for the expansion and renovation of Patrick F. Taylor Hall, saying the campaign has been the most successful, short-term fundraising effort in the history of the university. In February of this year, the university announced it had received an anonymous $40 million donation, the largest in its history.
“Philanthropic support is very often the game changer for top institutions in recruiting high-caliber students, attracting and retaining world-renowned faculty and staff, conducting life-changing research, and creating rich, well-rounded experiences that are the hallmark of an LSU education,” says Alexander.
