KU Endowment tops $100M mark

The Kansas University Endowment Association’s support to the university for the first time topped the $100 million mark with $103.9 million, according to an annual report released Friday.

Part of that is timing, said Dale Seuferling, the Endowment’s president.

Forty percent of endowment support went to renovation, construction and furnishings for several high-profile projects. These included the Hall Center for the Humanities, the Dennis E. Rieger Scholarship Hall, the Booth Family Hall of Athletics, Allen Fieldhouse, the Biomedical Research Center at KU Medical Center and a new student union at the Edwards Campus.

“Every year starts anew with a challenge to raise as much gift revenue as we can and to continue the pace that we had during the (KU First) campaign,” Seuferling said. “Whether (total support) exceeds $100 million next year remains to be seen.”

The endowment posted $1.14 billion in total assets for fiscal 2005, an 11 percent increase from the year before.

The fiscal year included the final portion of the KU First campaign, which closed at the end of December. Gift revenue was up 4 percent with $86.4 million.

Seuferling said the Endowment’s challenge was to keep gift revenue growing by identifying new donor prospects, returning to alumni and friends who did participate in the KU First campaign, and working on new projects that bring new interest and new donors to KU.

KU Endowment Trustees, from left, Kurt Watson, of Wichita, Mike Michaelis, of Wichita, and John Shawver, of Wichita, talk during a break at the KU Endowment Association's annual meeting Friday at the Hall Center for the Humanities.

The endowment’s long-term investments gained 13.7 percent in 2005, compared with 20.3 percent gains in 2004 and 2.2 percent gains in 2003.

Among those attending the meeting were: P. J. Adam, Kenneth G. Adams, Dana K. Anderson, Mrs. Dane G. Bales, Frank J. Becker, Beverly A. Smith Billings, Howard E. Cohen, Jeffrey W. Davis, John B. Dicus, John C. Dicus, William R. Docking, Robert L. Driscoll, Dr. Archie R. Dykes, R. A. Edwards, Linda S. Ellis, John G. Eriksen, Sam Evans, Lewis D. Gregory, Edward J. Healy, Forrest E. Hoglund, William M. Hougland, John D. Hunkeler, M.D., A. Drue Jennings, Jeff M. Johnson, Dorothy Wohlgemuth Lynch, James B. Martin, Kent C. McCarthy, Michael T. McCoy, M.D., Janet Martin McKinney, M. D. Michaelis, John W. Mize, Joe C. Morris, Robert S. Mueller, George E. Nettels Jr., Laird G. Noller, Marynell Dyatt Reece, A. Scott Ritchie, John H. Robinson Jr., Robert E. Roth, Frank C. Sabatini, Dale Seuferling, Todd Seymour, John C. Shawver, Michael G. Shinn, Steve Sloan, Glee S. Smith Jr., John T. Stewart III, Todd L. Sutherland, The Hon. Deanell Reece Tacha, Fenton R. Talbott, Robert D. Taylor, Robert M. Thomas Jr., Adelaide C. Ward, Kurt D. Watson, Thomas G. Wiggans II, and David C. Wysong.