The UNM Foundation, an independent institution responsible for much of the University’s funding, has seen a $15 million drop in donations this year.
For the fiscal year ending in June, the foundation received $75.1 million in donations, down from $90 million the previous year. Donations from corporations decreased from $21.6 million to $15.6 million, said Jill Zack, a UNM Foundation spokesperson. In contrast, donations from alumni increased last fiscal year from $15.2 million to $18.1 million.
But Zack said the decrease is nothing to worry about.
“We’re continuing business as usual,” she said. “We’re not that concerned, because of the way gifts skew numbers. We deal with a lot of major giving. If somebody gives an $8 million gift, it obviously skews the numbers.”
For the past two fiscal years, Zack said the overall number of donors has been about 17,000 people. This year, the foundation received 11 donations of more than $1 million, adding up to 23 percent of the money given. In the 2008-09 fiscal year, the foundation got 12 large donations, totaling 43 percent of all donations, she said.
Since the number of major donors is so small, Zack said it is common for the total amount of contributions to change year-to-year, but none of it has to do with the economic downturn.
“Traditionally, giving doesn’t really go along the economic lines of the country,” she said. “If the economy is going down, giving doesn’t tend to follow that spike.”
The numbers may back that up.
In 2004, the foundation received $46.6 million. The number has risen until last year. The two highest years were from 2007 to 2009, Zack said.
UNM alumni were the largest contributing group last year, and contributors decide if they want their donations to go toward scholarships, specific departments, construction work or the endowment fund.
Against the overall decrease in donations, data from the UNM Foundation shows that contributions to the endowment fund increased .2 percent to $15.4 million. The endowment fund supports student scholarships, professorships and graduate student fellowships.
John Welty, the vice president of Development and Administration for the UNM Foundation, said corporate donations to the University fell last year by about $6 million. He said the drop affects construction projects the most.
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“This is largely due to a reduction in large donations to support capital building projects,” he said.
Student Galen Billings said that diminished funding from corporations is good and bad.
“Corporations contributing to the University is a good, altruistic thing, but, at the same time, it privatizes it,” he said. “It’s the same as when interested parties donate to political parties. … (The drop in donations is) a give and a take. The alumni has definitely stepped up to the plate, though.”
