About 500 alumni, friends and faculty attended weekend events for the University of Illinois Foundation’s 69th Annual Business Meeting. The Foundation, established in 1935, is the official fundraising mechanism for all three University campuses, said the Foundation’s President Sidney Micek. On Friday, an event was held to announce the gifts and contributions made to the University this year.

For the last fiscal year, the University and the Foundation received $174.6 million in gifts, according to Stephen K. Rugg, University chief financial officer and treasurer of the Foundation.

Of that amount, the University directly received $38.8 million through grants and contracts and indirectly received $135.8 million through the Foundation.

“Despite all of our concerns and challenging times, it is reassuring to know that the University of Illinois Foundation continues to have a stronger basis in obtaining and administering private gifts on behalf of the University,” Rugg said.

While grants and contracts can be donated directly to the University, new rules implemented in 2001 require all gifts and donations to be given through the Foundation before reaching the University.

Most contributions were donated to specific categories, including academic divisions, faculty and staff compensation, research, buildings and equipment, public service and extension, and athletics.

Private gifts for student financial aid totaled $9.6 million, an increase of $6.3 million from the previous year, according to Rugg.

Of this year’s $174.6 million, 44 percent of the donations were from alumni and friends, 26 percent from corporations, 23 percent from other foundations and 7 percent from various associations.

The Urbana-Champaign campus received the largest amount of funds compared to the other two campuses, totaling about $126.2 million, according to Jim Gobberdiel, director of marketing and communications. The Chicago campus received about $40.4 million, the Springfield campus received $2.1 million and the General Administration and the Foundation received $5.9 million.

Micek also discussed a new fundraising campaign that the Foundation is working on. He called the campaign “the secret that will become one of the world’s worst-kept secrets.”

The campaign will not be formally announced until 2006, but he pointed out three goals for the campaign: to increase endowment for faculty and students, to strengthen participation by students, alumni, friends, faculty and staff and “to position the University of Illinois to take a leadership role in advancing public higher education nationally as well as globally.”

Thirteen major contributions were announced during the meeting. Gary and Daylene Lichtenwalter of Aspen, Colo., provided a deferred gift – a fund to be given at a scheduled date – of more than $2 million for undergraduate scholarships for the three campuses. Priority for the scholarships will go to graduates of Joliet Township High School or Joliet Junior College.

Of the gifts that the Urbana-Champaign campus received, Dick and Carole Cline of Wheaton, Ill., contributed $5 million as a deferred and outright gift – a gift made in cash. Their donation was the largest amount given to the campus.

Cline, a former chairman of the Foundation, said the money would be used to establish the Center for the Study of Democratic Governance in LAS. Cline also said he has made previous contributions, including the establishment of the Cline Symposium. The symposium is a semester-long seminar with a lecture from a keynote speaker.

“(The) University has a commitment to teaching, research and public outreach, and the center will function along those three,” Cline said.

With the help of the contributors, Micek said he knows the “University of Illinois will continue to lead the way throughout this century.”