Comparing fundraising efforts

The University of Miami chose a fitting name for the fund-raising campaign that gained speed and surpassed its original goal of $1 billion dollars.

Momentum is a campaign started in 2003 to raise money to improve the university. It has been successful due to generous donors and key timing, said Sergio Gonzalez, vice president of University Advancement and External Affairs.

The campaign met the original goal in January 2006 and surpassed its new goal of $1.25 billion by the end of 2007. The total to date is $1.33 billion.

On the campaign Web site, the funds are broken up into purposes to illustrate how the money is being used.

The two schools to gain the most from this campaign are the Miller School of Medicine and the College of Arts and Sciences.

The CAS will receive $60 million, which will fund various projects including a new humanities building and a center for biology and chemistry.

As for the medical school, $700 million will be used for construction purposes, such as building two new research facilities and an ambulance center.

The decision of how much money goes where rests upon a team that includes President Donna E. Shalala, the board of trustees and Provost Thomas LeBlanc. This team decides on priorities and the donors provide funding for those priorities, Gonzalez said.

As 2007 comes to a close, so does the campaign. Nothing is set for goals of a future fundraising campaign.

“We are shaping the priorities, and the team will make that decision,” Gonzalez said. “There is no specific timeline as to when, but I can assure you we will keep the same ambitions for the goals of the university.”

Jade Horner may be contacted at j.horner1@umiami.edu.

There are 26 American universities seeking to raise at least $1 billion. Here are a few universities that surpassed their goal:

 University of Miami, $1.332 billion as of Aug. 31; the goal was $1.25 billion by 2007

 New York University, $2.217 billion as of Aug. 31; the goal is $2.5 billion by 2008

 Vanderbilt University, $1.407 billion as of Aug. 31; the goal is $1.75 billion by 2010

 University of Virginia, $1.376 billion as of Aug. 31; the goal is $3 billion by 2011

 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $2.22 billion as of Aug. 31; the goal was $2 billion by 2007

Compiled from The Chronicle of Higher Education.