UNM raised more than $515,000 for a United Way fundraiser, exceeding its goal by about $50,000 two months after it began collecting donations in October.
About 800 people helped UNM contribute to the United Way of Central New Mexico's "Giving Makes Life Better Campaign," an annual fundraiser.
Interim Provost Viola Florez said the University was happy to help.
"We had a lot of support from the faculty and staff and the administration," she said. "We are hoping it can make a difference to community's children and families."
Donors choose where the money goes, said Joanne Fine, chief communications officer for United Way. The donations can go toward a community fund, any nonprofit or both, Fine said.
"United Way is how a community helps itself," she said. "The volunteers raise the money. Volunteers decide where the money goes."
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Clint Wells, director of Resource Development at United Way, said the University holds two fundraisers for the nonprofit organization every year.
This year, the fundraisers held by UNMH and UNM dished out about $800,000, he said.
The United Way in Central New Mexico raises $23 million each year, and 4 percent of it comes from UNM. There are 13 United Ways in New Mexico, the one in Albuquerque being the largest, Wells said.
"UNM plays a tremendous role in our success," he said. "We can't say enough about their support both with volunteer leadership and donations. It is always something that we can count on."
The Albuquerque Family Advocacy Center is just one of the many organizations the United Way helps, Wells said.
"It is a collection of agencies that deal with domestic violence, as well as the police and court system," he said. "The United Way worked to put them all under one roof, so a victim of domestic violence can go to one place to get them out of that situation."
He said that before the center was created, a victim of domestic violence had to go through a lengthy process to get help.
"If you need to file a police report, you just need a restraining order - you can do that," he said. "Before it opened, there were 25 to 35 places you would have to go to before that could happen, and that is a lot of time where you can get discouraged about going through the process."
Wells said support for the United Way has grown in the last five years.
"We are really lucky to have a partner like UNM," he said. "As long as anybody can remember, UNM has been a part of the campaign."
