Saturday, March 23, marks the beginning of the final 100 days of the IGNITE Campaign, a sustained eight-year effort to secure $500 million in private support to advance UCF. Since the campaign began on July 1, 2011, more than 103,000 donors have combined to make nearly 400,000 separate gifts, ranging from $5 to eight figures.
As of Dec. 31, 2018, total gifts and commitments stood at approximately $479.5 million, or 96 percent of the goal amount.
“Being so close to the campaign goal, the question isn’t ‘Will we reach it,’ but rather, ‘By how much,’” says Mike Morsberger, vice president for UCF Advancement and CEO of the UCF Foundation, the nonprofit organization that accepts gifts to UCF. “It is gratifying to see that our donors — many of them UCF faculty and staff — place their trust and confidence in the work we do at UCF to improve lives and livelihoods. It is my hope that before June 30, more people will make a gift to join in this historic effort.”
“It is gratifying to see that our donors — many of them UCF faculty and staff — place their trust and confidence in the work we do at UCF to improve lives and livelihoods.” — Mike Morsberger, vice president for UCF Advancement and CEO of the UCF Foundation
Morsberger adds the campaign grand total will be unveiled in October during UCF’s homecoming.
Donors to the campaign have chosen to support a wide range of priorities across the university, including student scholarships, endowed faculty positions, innovative programming, athletics excellence and new initiatives like UCF Downtown and the Academic Health Sciences Center at Lake Nona. Over the past three years, the UCF Foundation has forwarded more than $75 million to the university for use in those areas and others.
The most ambitious fundraising initiative in UCF history, IGNITE promises to fundamentally transform the future of the university by providing the margin of excellence that is so vital in public higher education. Alumni, friends, faculty, staff, students and partners can add their names to those who have already contributed on UCF’s annual Day of Giving, March 28.
