A University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) fundraiser has met its $4.2-billion goal 18 months ahead of schedule, school officials told the Los Angeles Times.
The fundraiser was created in honor of UCLA’s 100th anniversary next year. and the money will go toward various university initiatives such as scholarships, research programs and faculty support. Decreases in state allocations are forcing state-funded schools across the nation to find other ways to make up revenue shortfalls.
Since its establishment in 2012, the UCLA fundraiser has been supported by more than 460,000 donors who have given amounts ranging from $1 to over $100 million, reported the Times.
The campaign went so well because of “UCLA’s ability to attract a small cadre of wealthy donors and a very broad base of smaller ones,” UCLA’s vice chancellor for external affairs, Rhea Turteltaub, told the newspaper. “The campus received 117 gifts of more than $5 million, accounting for 44 percent of the total raised, but 95 percent of gifts were under $10,000.”
