History
When Edgar A. Burnett became chancellor of the University of Nebraska in 1929, he faced the task of leading the university through the darkest years of the Great Depression. As state appropriations dwindled, campus buildings were condemned and student enrollment decreased. In those harsh times, Burnett began a campaign to solicit private support that would sustain a level of academic excellence not possible through state funding alone.
Burnett looked beyond the trying times of the 1930s to the uncertain, yet promise-filled future. He recognized that investment in higher education is an investment in a “greater commonwealth,” a concept embodied in the University of Nebraska Foundation, whose founding he encouraged and nurtured in 1936. The foundation is the realization of Burnett’s dream – that an endowment built upon the accumulation of individual contributions would lay a foundation for continued excellence at the University of Nebraska.
Throughout its history, the foundation has marked many milestones as private individuals and organizations joined its mission of support. The foundation received its first gift from J.C. Seacrest of Lincoln in memory of his sister. The gift was used in the construction of a student activity building. A year later, in 1937, the foundation’s first bequest came from the estate of former university faculty member David R. Major in the amount of $325. The foundation’s first investment was in U.S. Treasury Certificates in the amount of $1,400, which paid 2.5 percent and matured in December 1953.
Five years after its incorporation, the foundation’s assets reached $37,237. In 1952, the foundation passed the million dollar mark in assets, ending the fiscal year with $1,068,811. Four years later that doubled, when 1956 ended with $2,149,827 in assets. In 1967, the foundation passed the $10 million mark.
These formative years were also marked by strong leadership provided by the individuals serving as chief executive officers of the foundation. Perry W. Branch, the foundation’s first full-time director, was employed on August 16, 1943. In the same year, the foundation opened its first office in the Nebraska Student Union on the UNL campus. Upon Mr. Branch’s retirement in 1963, Harry R. Haynie was hired as his successor.
In 1977, a number of significant events occurred that shaped the future of the foundation. The foundation officially launched its first major campaign “The Nebraska Campaign: A Commitment to Excellence” in September with the announcement that $7.8 million had been raised toward the $25 million goal. D. B. “Woody” Varner had direct responsibility for the three-year campaign. He had retired as president of the university and joined the foundation staff as chairman of the board of directors. In 1980 the campaign had raised a final total of more than $51.3 million, Harry Haynie retired and Woody Varner accepted a combined role of chairman of the board and president of the foundation.
In 1984 William Wenke became president, a position he held for two years, and Varner remained chairman of the board. Edward Hirsch, a long-time foundation staff member, then served as president for a year. In 1987, Terry L. Fairfield was hired as president and chief executive officer of the foundation.
In 1987, the Dow Jones Industrials collapsed 20 percent in a single day, which launched a serious look at the foundation’s investment policies and asset allocations. The assistance of the members of the foundation’s board of directors, with their expertise in finance and investments, was invaluable during this time. In addition, the board approved in the early 1990s, a plan to dramatically increase the size of the foundation’s staff in Lincoln and Omaha.
Also in the 1990s, the foundation established a limited liability corporation to build a technology park in northwest Lincoln. This served as the first step in the history of the university to work toward spinning off research from the university for commercialization purposes.
In 1992, foundation trustees gave their overwhelming support for a plan to merge the Kearney State College Foundation into the University of Nebraska Foundation.
In 1996, “Campaign Nebraska: One Nebraska. One University,” the foundation’s first comprehensive major gifts campaign in nearly two decades and only the second campaign in the university’s history, was publicly announced. NU alumni made up 50 percent of the 65,370 contributors to the campaign, which ended December 31, 2000. The campaign raised more than $727.7 million in gifts and surpassed the goal of $250 million. NU President L. Dennis Smith called this largest effort ever to raise private funds for the university a “tremendous gift” to the state.
In 2005, the board of directors announced a leadership succession plan. Terry Fairfield remained chief executive officer and became vice chairman. Clarence Castner was named president and chief development officer.
In 2006, the foundation broke three records – gifts received, $127,182,335; benefits transferred to the university, $87.3 million; and total assets, more than $1.3 billion.
In 2008, all three were broken again – gifts received, $166.5 million; benefits transferred to the university, $130.1 million; and total assets, $1.6 billion.
On July 1, 2008, Clarence Castner was named president and CEO. Terry Fairfield remains with the foundation as vice chair, raising major gifts on behalf of the University of Nebraska.
The investment of private funds has had a transformational impact on the quality and momentum of the university. Enrollment university-wide has increased over the past several years. ACT scores of incoming freshmen are impressively high. Our state’s top scholars are choosing their home state university instead of going elsewhere. This is a direct return on the private dollars given to create scholarships and academic programs to attract the best and brightest.
Momentum also is apparent in the university’s research enterprise. Since 2000, external competitive funding for research has more than doubled. And the University of Nebraska continues to climb the rankings in research and developmental activity. Private investment in research facilities and top faculty has made the university more competitive in this competitive arena than could have been imagined only a decade ago.
Members of the university’s faculty have been recognized nationally for their scholarship, creative activity and research, and are increasingly sought after by other institutions. Under the tutelage of these outstanding faculty members, university students have won Truman, Goldwater, Fulbright and Marshall Scholarships allowing them to continue their studies around the world.
Despite the past success, the foundation’s work continues. As public funds remain static or decline, and the cost of higher education increases, access to the state’s only public university must remain within reach for all qualified students. Creating both need and merit based scholarships remain the single highest priority of the foundation. Support for academic programs and funds to recruit and retain top faculty are also high priorities. In addition, recent years have marked the first time that private dollars have served as the main component for the funding of academic and research buildings. Twenty buildings were constructed in whole or in part during Campaign Nebraska; today that number is 34 buildings.
From the seeds sown in 1936, the University of
Nebraska Foundation has grown to become one of the largest foundations for
public institutions of higher learning in the United States. An accomplishment
that speaks to the quality of the foundation’s volunteer leadership and to the
generosity of Nebraskans and others who support the university. Today the foundation remains committed to the same cause that created it in 1936—to advance the University of Nebraska. While independent from the university, we are intrinsically linked to it, connecting the dreams and passions of donors to the mission of the university, and stewarding donor generosity across its four campuses.