The University may be lacking a state budget, but the same cannot be said for donations, according to a press release from the University of Illinois Foundation.

The release, sent Friday, reported the final numbers for fiscal year 2015, which ended June 30.EJ

According to the release, the University received $251.5 million in cash gifts, pledge payments, annuities/life income gifts and estate distributions, University of Illinois Foundation treasurer Walter Knorr reported.EJ

Although the $251.5 million earned in fiscal year 2015 is a drop from the $259.5 million raised in 2014, it is nearly $17 million more than the $234.9 million raised in 2013.EJ

Concerns about the amount of donations the University would receive were raised by members of the University community following the controversies surrounding James Kilgore and Steven Salaita.

However, since the close of fiscal year 2015, the combined endowment of the University and the University of Illinois Foundation totaled to $2.5 billion. Of the total endowment, nearly $2.4 billion is active endowment and $139.8 million is “irrevocable deferred” and can only be used for certain endowment purposes.EJ

“The University’s alumni, friends and community partners have once again demonstrated the importance of investing in higher education and the University of Illinois,” said James H. Moore, Jr., foundation president.

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