© 2024 KRWG
News that Matters.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NMSU Campaign Reaches $220 Million

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – New Mexico State University's Doing What Counts fundraising campaign has raised $220 million to date and continues to move toward its $225 million goal by December.

The comprehensive campaign is the most ambitious fundraising endeavor undertaken by the university and has already exceeded expectations. The original goal of $150 million by December 2008 was met early in the effort causing the NMSU Foundation Board of Directors to revise the goal to $225 million by December 2010.

"The funds raised are helping NMSU achieve even higher levels of excellence," said Nick Franklin, president of the NMSU Foundation and vice president of university advancement. "The generous gifts received are transformational to NMSU and spur growth in the number of its programs and the quality of existing programs."

More than 23,000 individuals, corporations and foundations have contributed to the campaign, which has doubled the Foundation's endowment from $60 million in 2003 to more than $120 million today. The annual payout to NMSU also has doubled; in 2003 the Foundation paid out $4 million to the university, last year the payout was more than $8 million in gifted funds, including financial support to 2,300 students.

The campaign was intended to fund academic chairs and professorships that support NMSU's outstanding faculty, to create additional scholarships to attract quality students and to establish funding for several capital projects including the Native American Cultural Center, the Center for the Arts and the New Mexico Public Policy Institute. Construction for the Native American Cultural Center is under way and a groundbreaking for the first phase of the Center for the Arts is scheduled July 15. The Public Policy Institute has received $9 million in federal funding and the New Mexico Legislature approved an $18 million bond issue for the institute to go before the voters in November.

To become an NMSU Partner in Excellence, visit http://foundation.nmsu.edu/.