Declining investment performance contributed to a fall in value for the KU Endowment’s funds during the 2012 fiscal year, the association announced Friday.

But the Endowment Association has made substantial process in its “Far Above” campaign this year, with donors contributing nearly $100 million since its public launch in April. All in all, the campaign’s contributions have totaled $708 million toward a goal of $1.2 billion.

Those figures were announced at the annual meeting of the association’s board of trustees Friday at the KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park.

Equity markets were down around the world during the 2012 fiscal year, which ended June 30, said Dale Seuferling, endowment president.

That led to a 3.4 percent decline in the value of the endowment’s long-term investments, he said.

“It’s kind of subject to that volatility in the market,” Seuferling said.

The market value of the association’s endowed funds fell to $1.18 billion from $1.25 billion as of June 2011. The value of all of its assets, which also include real estate and other holdings, came to $1.6 billion as of June 30, down from $1.65 billion a year before.

Seuferling noted, though, that markets have rebounded since the end of June. From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, the value of the association’s long-term investments grew by 4.8 percent.

Kurt Watson, an endowment trustee and chair of the “Far Above” fundraising campaign, gave an update on the campaign’s progress. Donors’ contributions have reached $708 million.

The campaign had raised $612 million when it publicly launched in April. Its fundraising goal is $1.2 billion, and it’s set to end in June 2016.

Friday’s meeting also included election of three new endowment trustees, including two Lawrence residents. The new trustees are Stacey Satterthwaite Dillon and Brent R. Padgett of Lawrence and A. Scott Ritchie III of Wichita.

Dillon is on the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Board as well as the KU Chi Omega Corporation Board, and she earned a bachelor’s degree in personnel administration from KU in 1979. Padgett is president and CEO of The Citizens National Bank, and he has served in various roles for the Kansas Bankers Association, the Kansas City Sports Commission and the KU School of Business Finance Board of Advisors. He graduated from KU in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Ritchie is a 1980 KU graduate with a bachelor’s in journalism. He is president and owner of the oil and gas business Ritchie Exploration Inc., and he serves on the board of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association.