Volume 1 | Issue 1
Spring
2009
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Chancellor's Blog
Chancellor's Message
Donors' generosity remains remarkable
Chancellor Holden Thorp
Most obvious is the state of our economy. Our nation faces fiscal challenges as steep as any in decades. We’re not immune on our campus.
Estimates now project the shortfall in the state budget at $2 billion. We expect our state budget allocation – typically almost a quarter of our budget – to take one-time cuts this year totaling at least 6 percent, or about $30 million.
UNC President Erskine Bowles has asked each system school to develop scenarios for handling state budget reductions of as much as 7 percent. In our response, we balanced our obligation to provide the best education for our students and serve the state. Still, cuts of this magnitude would affect our ability to carry out our mission.
Our success attests to the dedication of our donors. I realize that financial circumstances have changed for some of you, and yet we continue to benefit greatly from your generosity.
Our state-funding picture reveals just how critical other revenue sources will be to us in the months ahead. I’m pleased to say that private giving has remained remarkably strong, despite the economic downturn.
At the time of this writing in mid February, our gifts for this fiscal year totaled $159.3 million. That was down 11 percent from last year, but commitments – which include pledges as well as gifts – were exceeding our monthly average for the Carolina First Campaign, at $25.1 million vs. $23.4 million. In November 2008 alone, we received $40.6 million in commitments. To put that in perspective: Of 25 universities now in campaigns of $1 billion or more that reported figures for that month, only one raised more, and we ranked among the four that topped $25 million. That we’ve achieved these numbers even though we’re not in a campaign makes them all the more impressive. (Editor’s note: go here for updated fiscal year 2009 gifts/commitments totals.)
Our success attests to the dedication of our donors. I realize that financial circumstances have changed for some of you, and yet we continue to benefit greatly from your generosity.
So, I can reaffirm what I said now almost a year ago: I have the best job in American higher education. From singing with the Clef Hangers on the steps of Wilson Library to enjoying ballgames with alumni in Kenan Stadium and the Dean Dome to visiting North Carolina high school students in towns and cities across our state, I’ve seen how much this place means to so many people. The experience has only deepened how privileged I feel to lead it.
Above all, I’ve been struck that Carolina is about our people: our students, faculty, staff and alumni. As I said in my installation address this past University Day: “We all share the belief that the people of Carolina can transform the future -- with our minds, with our willingness to confront challenges, and with our hopes for our state, nation and world.”
As I thought about priorities for the start of my chancellorship, the answer was obvious. We must take care of our people by making Carolina the best place to teach, learn and discover.
We’re now taking a campus-wide look, led by trustees John Ellison and J.J. Raynor, at how we can make Carolina an even better university. They’ll report to the full Board of Trustees this spring.
What we learn will help inform our fund-raising priorities in the coming months.
One area I already know will be a priority is student support. Specifically, merit scholarships for undergraduate students and support for graduate and professional students. This will be critical as we face peer institutions offering more and more generous financial aid packages to students at higher and higher income levels.
Carolina has always risen to the challenge and now is no exception. We are traveling towards a new era in the history of our state and nation. It is a future filled with the hope, idealism and talent of the extraordinary young people who fill our classrooms, libraries and laboratories. And it is a future that Carolina will shape, as we have always done.
Thank you.
Hark the sound.