UMaine’s Vision for Tomorrow comprehensive campaign exceeds $200 million goal

Orono, Maine — The University of Maine Vision for Tomorrow comprehensive campaign has exceeded its $200 million goal by more than $8 million, according to UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and University of Maine Foundation President Jeffery N. Mills in announcing the successful completion of the record-setting fundraising effort.

The public phase of the campaign was announced in October 2017 with $121 million raised. 

The comprehensive campaign that raised a total of $208,586,510 has four major priority areas — Fostering Student Success, Ensuring Access for All of Maine, Catalyzing Maine’s Economy, and Accelerating Discovery to Impact. Each area received significant investments. 

Almost 60% of the funds raised were for student and faculty support. 

Highlights include gifts supporting UMaine’s six colleges, athletics and the University of Maine Alumni Association, over 500 new scholarship funds, and major funding for the new Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center, which is under construction and expected to be open in fall 2022. 

An anonymous $1 million matching gift created over $4.8 million in total new investment for scholarships and other endowment support for Maine students to attend UMaine. 

Also created or established during the campaign: the Emera Astronomy Center, the Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center, the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, the Zillman Museum of Art expansion and naming gift, the Kenneth W. Saunders and Henry W. Saunders Professorship in Engineering Leadership and Management, the Edward Sturgis Grew Earth Sciences Endowment, and the Savage Challenge Fund to support men’s ice hockey. 

Major gifts to support the efforts of the University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation included over $1.65 million from the Packaging Corporation of America.

The Maine 4-H Foundation completed several major projects during the campaign, including the new Lafayette and Rawcliffe 4-H Science and Engineering Center on campus, and the new UMaine 4-H Camp and Learning Center at Greenland Point in Washington County. In addition, the Maine 4-H Foundation has added more scholarships and other support to continue to expand and enhance 4-H STEM, leadership, service and arts programs for Maine youth.

Gifts of forestland, a plane, boats, real estate and scientific equipment rounded out the multiple types of donations received. 

Donors, including 35,499 alumni, friends, foundations and corporations, were from all 50 states and 32 countries.

The Alfond Fund for Athletics, the Maine Day of Giving, and the Employee Giving Campaign were new fundraising initiatives launched during the campaign. Giving society memberships are at record levels. Membership in the Charles F. Allen Legacy Society, for those who have established planned gifts, is up 30%; Stillwater Society membership, for donors whose lifetime giving exceeds $25,000, is up 39%; President’s Club membership, which includes donors who make annual gifts exceeding $1,000, is up 57%; and Triple Crown donor membership, for those in the President’s Club, the Stillwater Society and the Charles F. Allen Legacy Society, is up 73% since 2013.

A significant number of bequest gifts resulted in new scholarships and other support for UMaine students, including  the Alton ’38 and Adelaide Hamm Campus Activity Fund, and the Thomas P. Hosmer Fund that supports campus maintenance.

A recent major effort in the campaign was the Student Crisis Fund, created by the University of Maine Foundation to help students with emergency funding during the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, over $220,000 has been raised for the fund, with more than 500 students receiving grants.

“The success of the campaign reflects the importance of the University of Maine to alumni, friends, business and community partners, and the people of the state of Maine and beyond,” says Ferrini-Mundy. “As we continue to reshape the institution for a bold new future, this investment has placed us in a very good position for change that builds on all of our strengths. We are truly grateful.”

University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy congratulated UMaine and the University of Maine Foundation on the successful comprehensive campaign, and noted the importance of private and corporate investment in the future of higher education.

“Sharing a vision for tomorrow at the state’s research university and investing in it are critical for our students, faculty and staff, for the entire System and for Maine,” says Malloy. “Higher education is more important than ever in this challenging, changing world, and this successful comprehensive campaign provides a firm foundation on which we will continue to build.”

“This campaign has demonstrated that donors can work with us to choose a gift type that best suits their financial position while accomplishing their philanthropic goals for supporting UMaine. During the campaign, we traveled across the country meeting with alumni and friends, there is a great fondness for and connection to the college of our hearts always, and it shows in the support we received,” Mills says.

The University of Maine Foundation led the campaign. Honorary co-chairs for the Vision for Tomorrow campaign are Paul and Giselaine Coulombe. Paul, a member of the UMaine class of 1975, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and went on to become a prominent business leader. He and Giselaine are generous philanthropists. 

Additional information can be found online at umaine.edu/visionfortomorrow.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, nagle@maine.edu