IU ranks 17th in private funding

Of 1,014 institutions, IU ranked 17th overall in private funding in 2006, according to the Council for Aid to Educationwhich compiles a yearly list ranking schools based on private-sector funding.\nThe IU Foundation contributed $110.7 million in gifts, nongovernmental research grants totaled $119 million and Riley Children’s Foundation accounted for $17.8 million to equal $247.5 million in voluntary support. \nThe IU Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that works to maximize private resources dedicated to IU. The IU Foundation takes gifts that may be appropriated to specific areas of spending, such as faculty and staff development, capital and equipment needs, awards and scholarships, research and general purpose. Alumni, corporations and other organizations make donations.\n“People donate because they want to see something good happen that they can’t do themselves,” Barbara Coffman of the IU Foundation said. \nSince 1990, IU has been on an upward trend in private funding. IU has moved up in the rankings among schools such as the University of Michigan, ranked 16th. Stanford University, Harvard University and Yale University are the top three with $911.1 million, $595.9 million and $433.5 \nmillion, respectively.\nIn the 2005 fiscal year, IU set records, receiving more than $301 million in overall voluntary support. Much of the received donations come from large gifts. 2005 saw the acceptance of a $105 million gift and several other donations. \nCoffman said she expects an average upward trend based on large gifts such as these. \n“Support from the private sector for IU has nearly doubled over the past 10 years,” IU Foundation President Curt Simic said in an IU news release. “Although in any individual year the total voluntary support number may spike or drop, IU’s trend line is strongly upward. That strong upward trend has enabled IU to keep its place among the top institutions in the nation almost every year since 1990.”