Shattering fundraising records in Florida, the University of Miami has raised almost a billion and a half dollars in an aggressive, seven-year campaign that promises to propel UM into a more elite league of schools.
The university raised $1.4 billion, surpassing its own billion-dollar goal -- an achievement that has coincided with a significant bounce in the school's placement in various national rankings.
''No one in Florida had ever tried to raise this kind of money before, so there wasn't any kind of competition to raising this kind of money,'' UM President Donna Shalala said in an exclusive interview with The Miami Herald.
``A lot of people thought we were nuts.''
The campaign concluded in December, but plans are being made to launch another this year to keep the momentum going, Shalala said. The new campaign will be specifically designed to propel UM up in national academic rankings, she said, declining to discuss specifics.
The university's success -- no other college in Florida has ever come close to raising that kind of money in a single campaign -- seems to have inspired others. The University of Florida last year announced an ambitious plan to raise $1.5 billion.
''A successful fundraising campaign in that nature can be hugely transformative in taking an institution to the next level it aspires to,'' said Rae Goldsmith, a vice president at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. ``In some ways, people like to give to success, and so when there is a cause, like education at a particular institution that other people are giving to, it gives other donors confidence.''
UM is using the money to endow 35 new faculty chairs, construct or improve 33 buildings and provide more scholarships, among other things.
Shalala, who took over as UM president in 2001 after serving as secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton, wants UM to continue its ascent in national rankings. It has already shot up from No. 66 in the country five years ago to No. 52 this year in U.S. New and World Report's annual college rankings, a commonly used point of reference. UM and the University of Florida, which came in at No. 49, are the only two universities in Florida in the magazine's top 100.
In terms of fundraising, UM was 32nd in the nation in 2006, sandwiched between Dartmouth College and Pennsylvania State University, both with much longer histories than the relatively young UM, founded in the 1920s. The school raised $158 million in 2006, according to records provided to The Miami Herald by the Council for Aid to Education, a national nonprofit research group. The University of Florida, which is older, bigger and has a much larger alumni base, raised $156 million in 2006.
UM is also becoming more competitive academically. The average SAT score for incoming freshmen has jumped 73 points, from 1202 in 2001 to 1275 last year. Average GPAs rose from 4.0 to 4.1, and the average freshman ranked in the 89th percentile in their high school, up from 86th.
''People want to be with winners,'' Shalala said. ``We could not raise money if we were declining in the rankings. We could not raise the money if we weren't getting better academically. So everything had to move together.''
The fundraising campaign also occurred at a time when the university's football program was not doing as well as it had previously, puncturing the conventional wisdom that a stellar sports program is critical for wooing financial donors.
Shalala said it took ''a lot of dinners'' with potential donors, and a certain amount of self-confidence, to bring in the money. UM's breaking of new ground for philanthropy could further energize a recent surge in charitable giving in South Florida and boost Miami's economy and prestige, she said.
Sergio Gonzalez, UM's chief fundraiser, explained that the gifts came from companies, foundations and more than 130,000 individuals -- mostly alumni. Creative methods like linking scholarships to specific positions on the football or basketball teams helped lure sports boosters. And Hispanics opened their wallets like never before, giving 16 donations of more than $1 million, Gonzalez said.
About 60 to 70 percent of the donations were to the medical school, and about the same percentage were from people who live in Florida, he said.
Gonzalez and Shalala said they are not worried about the slumping economy.
''We set out at a time when the economy was really bad,'' Gonzalez said. ``The market was down, and there wasn't a lot of certainty about the future financial situation of South Florida. We decided that it was an opportunity.''
The fundraising shows that UM has built significant momentum, said independent experts who evaluate colleges.
''I don't think they'd be achieving these campaign goals if people didn't have confidence in them and they hadn't already made the case that they could use the funds wisely,'' said Anne Kaplan, a director at the nonprofit Council for Aid to Education, which monitors giving to universities nationally.
``People who make large gifts have a lot of experience managing money and they have advisors that help them make decisions. Their success by its very nature demonstrates that these people have a high level of confidence in the places they are donating to.''
Some of UM's biggest donors are members of the school's board of trustees. Trustee Judi Newman, a UM alumna from 1963, and her husband, a successful software developer, donated $7.7 million and will have UM's new alumni center named after them.
''Attending the University of Miami was a transforming event in my life, and I attended because they gave me a partial scholarship and that made it possible,'' said Newman, who was a United Airlines executive for many years and now lives in Denver. ``So as an alumna of the university and a member of the board, my husband and I made this gift because I wanted to do something to thank them and provide for the future.''
Miami lawyer Dean Colson, past chairman of UM's board and a co-chair of the fundraising campaign, donated $1 million.
''I never dreamt it was possible to raise this kind of money when we started this campaign,'' said Colson, who said he ''reached deep'' to increase his pledge.
Colson said the school is just getting started.
''Not only did we not tap out people's generosity,'' Colson said, ``If we spend the money wisely, I think we can go back to some of these people who still have tremendous capacity and ask for more.''
