A Fearless Feat

Generous gifts from a broad range of donors pushed the University of Maryland past the $200 million giving milestone in fiscal year 2019 for only the third time in school history.

Fearless Ideas: The Campaign for Maryland brought in a total of $201,006,784 in the year ending June 30. The other two fiscal years that topped $200 million (2015 and 2018) saw at least one exceptionally large gift: the $31 million gift to name the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering and the $219 million investment from the A James & Alice B. Clark Foundation.

“I think this has probably been one of our strongest fundraising years as far as not having one single donor represent most of the giving,” said JR Blackburn, associate vice president for university development. “A lot of individual donors at various gift amounts helped contribute to the forward momentum.”

The accomplishment puts UMD 75% of the way toward the $1.5 billion goal of Fearless Ideas, which aims to elevate the university’s mission of service, bolster its cutting-edge research and enhance its academic distinction.

“A very healthy fundraising campaign is one where everyone can see their place in it,” said Jackie Lewis, vice president for university relations. “In fiscal 2019, in addition to loyal alumni, we saw lots of students, staff and faculty participate as well.”

Examples of FY19’s gifts include:

• Over $2 million supporting the Clark Challenge for the Maryland Promise: These scholarships target students from underserved populations in D.C. and Maryland. The first cohort began this semester.
• IDEA Factory investment: Numerous gifts, including $2.575 million from Lockheed Martin, support the E.A. Fernandez IDEA Factory project. The 60,000-square-foot facility now under construction will enable collaboration between areas of business, engineering and science.
• A $250K gift from Doug Peardon: The longtime season ticket holder and Terps supporter gave to support the new Cole Field House, which, when complete, will be a state-of-the-art research and training facility.
• Over $2 million raised during Giving Day, the university’s annual giving 24-hour marathon in March, largely in smaller dollar amounts.

“It’s exciting to make major progress toward our goal like we did in fiscal 2019,” said Lewis. “We are so grateful for the generosity of all of our donors as we work toward reaching our $1.5 billion campaign goal. There is still a great deal of work ahead.”

This fall, the university will continue to roll out the campaign in several cities, including Washington, New York and Baltimore.