UNC Campaign Boasts More Than $800M

The campaign, aptly named Carolina First, is part of Chancellor James Moeser's effort to make UNC the nation's leading public university by supplementing state support with private funds.

The multi-year campaign began July 1, 1999, with a goal of at least $1.5 billion. This will triple the $500 million the University received from the state bond referendum passed in November of 2000. Now, because of the campaign's success, organizers are considering raising the goal amount.

Speed Hallman, director of development communication, said that he is not ready to reveal the amount but that the new goal will be publicly announced on Oct. 11, a day before University Day.

The announcement was originally set for last October, but after the events of Sept. 11, organizers pushed it back.

"It just didn't feel right to have a major celebration on campus," Hallman said. "A lot of people wanted to just stay home with their family.

"In September we thought we'd make the announcement in April. But the fund raising was going so well that, early this year, we decided we'd use the summer to look at how much we had raised."

Carolina First has raised a record-setting $180 million in cash receipts for the 2001-02 fiscal year. "This has been our best year ever," Hallman said.

Additional funding has been promised but not yet given to the University. Although the number of donors this fiscal year has decreased 3 percent from last year, the amount of dollars received has increased 19 percent.

"It has been a very unusual year for the country," Hallman said. "We've been working very hard and talking to a lot of alumni and friends of the University."

Although the state has historically been generous to UNC, Hallman said, "Private gifts have always helped us be a better university. We can do things that would not otherwise be possible."

One of Carolina First's goals to support the UNC community is funding for 200 endowed professorships and 1,000 new undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships.

Carolina First will be done in two phases. In the first period, called the quiet phase, the campaign is not overtly publicized but organizers begin to talk to people about making large donations. These "leadership gifts" are used to try to encourage other donors.

"We can say we already have 'x' dollars in hand, we need 'y' dollars to meet our goal," Hallman said. In this phase, fund-raisers are also refining the campaign plan and setting their goal.

The campaign's Oct. 11 announcement will mark the change from the quiet to the public phase. In the public phase fund-raisers will broaden their appeal to target all UNC alumni.

The money Carolina First has raised already has a visible impact on campus. Officials say $300 million of the money raised by Carolina First is set aside for the College of the Arts and Sciences. The Institute for Arts and Humanities building, funded solely by private donations, will open in October.

Although physical improvements are the most visible result of the campaign, the real focus is on the people of UNC, said James May, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "The most important thing we are trying to do, clearly, is raise money to support faculty and support students."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.