A month after U of T announced that it reached its $2 billion fundraising target in donations last year, the university has released a report detailing fundraising for 2015–2016.
According to the University Advancement Performance Indicators report, which will be presented at the Business Board meeting on January 23, U of T raised over $233 million in philanthropic gifts and research grants for the 2015–2016 fiscal year — about $15 million less than the previous year.
The university’s Boundless campaign raised more than $1.9 billion by April 30, 2016, the end of the fiscal year. The university surpassed the $2 billion goal a few months later.
The report recognized the previous year’s results as a “record year for fundraising” and as a demonstration of community support for U of T “as it strives to find solutions to some of society’s most pressing issues.”
“In a time of uncertainty throughout much of the world, the University of Toronto is immensely fortunate to be located in a city and country that are deeply committed to the principles of openness, tolerance and inclusion,” the report concluded.
Last year marked the fourth consecutive year that U of T received over $200 million in donations since the 2012–2013 fiscal year.
Of the 21,353 donors last year, alumni made up 78.5 per cent and contributed over $81 million, which amounted to over 41 per cent of all the donations last year.
The university received large gifts from the estates of two alumni, Joseph L. Rotman and Erwin Edward Hart, to support U of T programs and research projects. The Rotman Catalyst Fund and the Hart Trust have given $30 million and $20 million to the university, respectively.
Corporations made up only two per cent of all donors but contributed about 39 per cent of total gifts last year, about $76 million. One of those corporations was IBM Canada, which invested $65 million in the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform, a collaboration between academia and small businesses using big data analytics, co-led by U of T.
The majority of the total amount gifted to U of T is attributable to principal gifts, donations of $5 million or more. Annual gifts, donations under $25,000, made up less than eight per cent of the total gift amount, contributing about $15 million in total.
Over $80 million, about 40 per cent of the total gift amount, was raised for programs and research projects. Around $73 million, about 37 per cent of total gifts, was for infrastructure.
U of T unveiled the Boundless campaign in 2011, which aimed to primarily support programs, research, and infrastructure.
The $2 billion goal that was reached through the Boundless campaign surpassed the $1 billion the university raised in 2003, which was the most successful fundraising campaign by a Canadian university at the time.
The Boundless campaign has had 89,813 donors since its inception, 66.6 per cent of them being alumni who have given approximately $729 million in total to their alma mater.
President Meric Gertler announced that the Boundless campaign will be extended, with a new target of $2.4 billion. Vice President of Advancement David Palmer said in the report that extending the campaign will “advance the University’s Three Priorities and fund emerging initiatives across each of our campuses.”
“We know that this vision is achievable,” Palmer writes in the report. “Working together, we will propel U of T to a new horizon of excellence and impact.”
