University of Arizona meets $1.5 billion fundraising goal 2 years early

The University of Arizona’s bid to raise $1.5 billion in donations has ended successfully — and well ahead of schedule.

The Arizona Now campaign, launched publicly in 2014, reached its goal two years early with support from more than 100,000 donors, officials said.

The campaign’s success “ensures the UA’s place as a premier institution for cutting-edge research and academic achievement,” said John-Paul Roczniak, president and CEO of the UA Foundation, who was busy planning a celebration event after the news was announced Friday.

The donor money supports a wide range of projects and initiatives, including student scholarships, support for faculty and research, and upgrades to university programs and facilities.

UA President Ann Weaver Hart, in a news release Friday, said the campaign’s outcome shows “what is possible when the entire UA community — faculty, students, staff, alumni and friends from around the world — come together to help drive the future.”

UA fundraising boomed the first few years after Hart’s 2012 arrival, but slowed this year as some donors protested Hart’s decision to take a side job on the board of for-profit DeVry University. Despite the controversy, officials said fundraising topped $200 million in each of the last three school years.

The campaign total includes donations that date to 2010. The campaign began then in what officials described as a “quiet phase,” and raised around $860 million before the public announcement.

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The donation that put the campaign over the top came from one of the UA’s fundraising trustees. Peter Salter, a retired health-care executive, and his wife, Nancy, gave $2.5 million to endow the Center for Management Innovations in Healthcare at the Eller College of Management.

The impact of other major donations stretches across campus. They include:

• A gift of more than $50 million that created the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice.

• A $20 million gift from the family of renowned horn player Fred Fox that renamed the UA’s School of Music in his honor.

• A $20 million donation from Richard F. Caris that secured the UA’s role in building the Giant Magellan telescope.

• A $5 million addition to McClelland Hall funded by a lead gift from Karl and Stevie Eller.

Not all donations were so large, of course. Donations ranged from $15 to $50 million, officials said.