Annual Report 2025

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Vision

The University of Nebraska Foundation is pleased to provide the following information in keeping with its vision to be a trusted partner for all those wishing to support the University of Nebraska.

Yearly Giving

The University of Nebraska Foundation experienced record-setting private support for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, with $416.6 million in new funds committed. It is the first year that annual fundraising exceeded $400 million in a single year. In addition, the foundation reached a new record of annual donors, with 60,602 donors making a gift in the fiscal year. Gifts were made to support all campuses of the University of Nebraska System. Gift highlights by campus include the following:

University of Nebraska at Kearney

A $500,000 gift from UNK alumni Merle A. and Kay Horst to create scholarships for undergraduate students from farming communities majoring in accounting or business administration.
Multiple gifts to increase the pipeline of UNK students hoping to practice health care in rural Nebraska. The Health Science Education Center II is scheduled to open in 2026 as part of the Douglas A. Kristensen Rural Health Education Complex on the UNK campus.
Multiple gifts to honor Nebraska’s one-room and rural school teachers and raise scholarship funds for College of Education students as part of the One Room, One Teacher scholarship program.
A nearly $2.25 million estate gift from the late Ruth Ann Pigott Janssen, Ph.D., former chair of the UNK sociology department, to support scholarships and other priorities in the sociology department.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

A $6.6 million pledge to support the Peter Kiewit Foundation Engineering Academy to provide full cost of attendance scholarships to up to 40 students in the academy’s 2025 cohort.
A $4 million deferred pledge, made by Carol Krutsinger of Norfolk, Nebraska, through her estate, to support ag-related priorities at UNL’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture.
An endowed chair for the College of Engineering, established by a $1 million pledge by engineering and design firm Olsson.
An endowed fund, established by a $4 million gift from Cindy and Mick McCaffrey of Tiburon, California, to support student workers in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
A leadership gift from UNL alumna Catherine “Kit” Schmoker to support the Kit and Dick Schmoker Reading Center’s expansion of its services to communities, schools and children throughout Nebraska and provide future teachers with hands-on opportunities to work one-on-one with young readers.

University of Nebraska Medical Center and its clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine

Multiple gifts received to support Project Health, a $2.19 billion health care facility at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine which will create a clinical learning center to train the next generation of health care providers, care for patients, conduct research and offer clinical trials.
Multiple gifts to bring a breakthrough proton therapy treatment to the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, which provides extremely targeted radiation to minimize damage to surrounding tissue.
Creation of the Kenneth Cowan, MD, PhD, Distinguished Chair in Breast Cancer Clinical Research, in memory of the late director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.
Creation of a presidential chair in cardiovascular sciences and support for the Healing Arts program because of philanthropic support from the Holland Foundation.
A full cost-of-attendance medical school scholarship, created by William Northwall, M.D., for a student from greater Nebraska who attends the UNMC College of Medicine on the UNK campus.

University of Nebraska at Omaha

A $17.1 million privately funded addition to the Biomechanics Research Building to house the Center for Cardiovascular Research in Biomechanics. The project was supported by principal benefactors Omaha philanthropist Ruth Scott and the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation.
A distinguished chair of literacy to support literacy education programs, including teacher training, established by the Lozier Foundation.
Gifts to support Omaha Hockey, including a scholarship for the team’s goalie, created by Yano and Cindy Mangiameli, and a scholarship for the right defenseman position, created by Maureen “Mo” and Nick Borman.
Two Omaha sisters, Karen C. Olson, M.D., and Nancy D. Olson, committed a combined $1.56 million to support Omaha Athletics.

Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis

An anonymous gift of nearly $1.2 million to support a planned $12 million Student Success and Activity Center, part of an effort to modernize facilities and boost enrollment at NCTA.

More stories about the impact donors are making on the University of Nebraska are located on our Points of Pride page.

BREAKDOWN OF $416.6 MILLION BY SOURCE

IMPACT OF THE $416.6 MILLION AT THE UNIVERSITY

Endowment

As of June 30, 2025, the foundation endowment was valued at $2.3 billion. The one-year return for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, was 9%. Given that it is a permanent endowment with an investment horizon of “forever,” our primary measure for the foundation endowment is the five-year annualized return, which was 10.4%. We continue to maintain a disciplined and consistent approach to our investment management and emphasize asset allocation as the key driver of returns.

Investment Objective

The primary objective of the foundation’s endowment is to earn an annualized return of at least 6.5% plus the Consumer Price Index net of investment management fees, oversight expenses and transaction costs, when measured over five-year rolling periods.

Endowment Spending Policy

The foundation’s distribution policy for its permanently endowed funds is an annual distribution from the endowment of 4.25% of the 20-quarter average of the endowment market value as of June 30. The distribution is proportionally credited to each fund within the endowment. The distribution is used for the specific charitable purpose identified by the donor for the endowed fund.

Read the full Fiscal Year 2025 Endowment Report.

Other Financial Highlights

Independent Auditor’s Report

Forvis Mazars has audited the University of Nebraska Foundation’s consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, including the statements of financial position, activities, cash flows and accompanying notes to the financial statements. It is their opinion that the statements present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of the University of Nebraska Foundation. Read the Audited Financial Statement below.

IRS 990

Public charities are required to make available copies of IRS Form 990 filed for the three most recent fiscal years. Requests can be submitted in person, by mail or email. Requests should be directed to UNF’s General Counsel at [email protected]. Returns for a substantial number of charities, including ours, are available at www.guidestar.org.

Fee Policies

The University of Nebraska Foundation is a private corporation, independent of the University of Nebraska, and does not receive any direct funding from the university for operations. Funding for our operation comes from endowed gifts, capital project gifts and expendable gifts. None of the fees charged by the foundation affect the donor’s tax deduction. Read the Fees and Disclosure Information below.

Annual Report 2025

Audited financial statement

Prior year financial statements

Endowment information

Fees and disclosure information

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