Faculty/Staff Campaign Generates Thanks and Millions From: University of Cincinnati Currents Date: February 25, 2000 By: Marianne Kunnen-Jones For more than a year, faculty and staff have been working to help the Campaign for UC reach its $300 million goal. By the end of January 2000, their impact totaled $14,866,874, according to Milton Orchin, professor emeritus of chemistry and co-chair of the faculty and staff part of the UC Campaign. Want just a few examples of that faculty/staff commitment? Thanks to the support of faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine, the Richard and Sue Vilter Chair in Internal Medicine was funded last year. At the College of Nursing, more than 50 pledges are supporting technology, scholarships and the Institute of Nursing Research. In fall 1999, faculty and staff in the Department of Family Medicine helped launch an endowed chair campaign to honor the department's first director, Robert Smith. The $1.5 million effort has already raised more than $300,000. "Although outside giving constitutes the major portion of the campaign, the faculty and staff have the opportunity to express their loyalty and appreciation to the university by contributing to the campaign. Also some forms of giving can be very beneficial financially to donors through tax deductions and charitable gift annuities," Orchin said. "I've spent my entire academic career at the university and have enjoyed the benefits of my affiliation. Participating in the campaign is an expression of my appreciation for this long, fruitful association," added Orchin, whose Faculty/Staff Campaign co-chair is Robert Luke, director of the Department of Internal Medicine. UC's faculty and staff are an essential and highly influential part of the campaign's success, said Tom Neville, development officer at the UC Foundation. "I can't tell you how many times an alumnus will remember a favorite teacher and tell us they are making a gift because of that," he said. "Outside donors are very interested in how the faculty and staff feel about this. I can tell them that there has been a great response." Several colleges have already completed or begun their own internal campaigns, including Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Engineering, Business Administration, Applied Science and Education. Employees in other UC units will soon be asked to participate as well. While some individuals have chosen to begin or support projects in their own colleges and units, others make gifts to areas such as athletics, women's studies, libraries or general scholarship support. Gifts can be made in a variety of ways - check or cash, through payroll deduction, as intended bequests, by establishing charitable trusts or annuities or through highly appreciated assets. Private support from individuals and corporations has become more important to the university in recent years as the university budget has changed. State funding provides just 29 percent of UC's annual budget.