By the Numbers: Donor Support

Sunday, April 23, 2023 - 9:30am

Donor Support

As state-aided budgets shrink, the University and the College of Journalism and Mass Communications become increasingly reliant on philanthropy to support essential operations. Last November, the University of Nebraska Foundation launched a five-year comprehensive campaign to raise funds for faculty support, student support and strategic initiatives.

To provide a baseline for future fundraising efforts, we will review our existing foundation funds and what college programs they support.

Foundation Funds

Today, the college has 224 funds at the University of Nebraska Foundation supporting college-wide programs or programs within the college’s majors. Thirty-nine percent of the existing funds support programs college-wide, followed by journalism at 34%, advertising and public relations at 17%, broadcasting at 8% and our newest programs, sports media and communication at 2%. 

Types of Funds

Foundation funds can be either expendable or endowed. Endowed funds are funds where the original gift is invested, and the interest earned off the investment is available to spend on college operations. Expendable funds are outright gifts where the donation is spent and does not generate further income for the college.

A majority, 62% of the college’s foundation funds are endowed, while 38% are expendable. 

Support by Area – Endowments

The market value of a fund tells us the value of the principal investment as it stands today. The market value fluctuates over time depending on the performance of the fund in the market. The overall size of the college’s endowment (comprised of all the college’s endowed funds) is $24,112,104. 

Available Resources

The funds available to the college to spend are comprised of the interest earned from the college’s endowments and the current value of expendable funds. Today, the college has $1,657,778 available to spend at the University of Nebraska Foundation. However, some of these funds are already committed to supporting college activities. For example, funds have been donated to support the Meier Studio project. However, not all the bills for the projects have been received or paid. Therefore, the existing funds are already committed to the project. 

Each fund is governed by a fund summary memo, which specifies not only the college program that benefits from the fund, but also the specific uses of the money. The specific use can be very broad. For example, the fund may be used for anything that benefits the college. Or the specific use can be very specific. For example, the fund may be restricted to a scholarship for a senior in advertising and public relations with a 3.5 GPA and an interest in working for non-profit organizations.

Fund Purpose

To better understand what our resources support, we have developed several categories to articulate the funds’ purpose. Please note that these are general categories and there may be restrictions by fund that are more specific than the category implies. 

College-Wide Funds

 

 Market Value

 Available Resources

 Annual Income

 Design Communication

 $               -  

 $                    (1,082)

 $                 -  

 Emergency Award

 $               -  

 $                     19,916

 $                 -  

 Experience Lab

 $               -  

 $                    25,976

 $                 -  

 Faculty Travel*

 $       201,276

 $                     38,661

 $             8,591

 General Support

 $       742,885

 $                      5,287

 $           31,709

 Graduate Program

 $               -  

 $                    30,422

 $                 -  

 Lectureship

 $      607,607

 $                    86,865

 $          25,935

 Parent Fund**

 $      2,199,521

 $                      7,824

 $          93,884

 Professorship

 $    2,847,578

 $                     27,461

 $          121,545

 Renovation 

 $               -  

 $                      6,822

 $                 -  

 Retention Programs

 $               -   

 $                      6,293

 $                 -  

 Scholarship

 $     2,310,493

 $                  206,673

 $          98,426

 Student Award

 $       108,283

 $                   33,002

 $            4,622

 Study Abroad

 $               -  

 $                     6,905

 $                 -  

 Grand Total

 $    9,017,644

 $                  501,026

 $        384,713

*Income for this category is drawn from a parent fund that supports multiple colleges and specific details are not available to CoJMC. The annual income represented is understated.

**Parent funds are funds whose income is subdivided into multiple other funds with differing purposes. 

Advertising and Public Relations

 

Market Value

Available Resources

Annual Income

Buoy

 $                -  

 $                  3,920

 $                -  

Faculty Project

 $                -  

 $                  2,092

 $                -  

General Support

 $       228,066

 $                  8,833

 $            9,735

Internship Award

 $          22,194

 $                  6,989

 $              947

Jacht

 $         57,449

 $                39,420

 $            2,452

Lectureship

 $                -  

 $                  18,918

 $                -   

NSAC

 $         106,162

 $                  11,795

 $            4,531

PRSSA

 $          27,894

 $                  5,362

 $              1,191

Public Insight Lab

 $                -  

 $                  8,764

 $                -  

Scholarship

 $        322,678

 $                28,424

 $           13,773

Grand Total

 $       764,443

 $               134,517

 $         32,629

Broadcasting

 

Market Value

Available Resources

Annual Income

General Support

 $            91,623

 $                     2,986

 $             3,911

KRNU

 $                  -  

 $                       (161)

 $                -  

Scholarship

 $         708,028

 $                   31,809

 $          30,221

Grand Total

 $        799,650

 $                  34,634

 $          34,132

Journalism

 

Market Value

Available Resources

Annual Income

Depth Report

 $          35,149

 $                   23,054

 $          1,500

Drone Lab

 $                -  

 $                    11,047

 $               -  

Environmental Journalism

 $         28,268

 $                       793

 $           1,207

General Support

 $       724,602

 $                    14,015

 $        30,929

Global Eyewitness

 $      1,019,794

 $                  50,934

 $        43,529

Internship Award

 $                -  

 $                   26,250

 $               -  

Lectureship

 $        154,935

 $                    25,515

 $           6,613

Mobile Media

 $                -  

 $                  20,805

 $               -  

Nebraska News Service

 $                -  

 $                     5,868

 $               -  

Parent Fund

 $       465,339

 $                   16,790

 $         19,862

Photojournalism

 $         41,440

 $                   22,975

 $           1,769

Professional Award

 $          51,437

 $                    23,619

 $           2,196

Professorship

 $     4,698,881

 $                  315,305

 $     200,566

Real World

 $        791,349

 $                  134,395

 $        33,778

Rural Journalism

 $                -  

 $                    18,323

 $               -  

Scholarship

 $    4,304,834

 $                 130,766

 $       183,746

Student Award

 $                -  

 $                   82,629

 $               -  

Student Travel

 $         111,980

 $                   29,775

 $          4,780

Grand Total

 $  12,428,008

 $                 952,857

 $     530,474

Sports Media and Communication

 

Market Value

Available Resources

Annual Income

General Support

 $              -  

 $                    2,206

 $               -  

Internship Award

 $              -  

 $                    12,647

 $               -  

Lectureship

 $              -  

 $                      3,671

 $               -  

Parent Fund

 $        98,412

 $                     1,050

 $          4,201

Student Award

 $              -  

 $                   22,372

 $               -  

Grand Total

 $       98,412

 $                   41,946

 $          4,201

This overview provides a broad understanding of the resources available to the college at the University of Nebraska Foundation and areas with existing donor support.