Irving, TX (July 19, 2022) – The University of Dallas announced today record breaking fundraising success for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which ended May 31. Total cash gifts received totaled more than $5.1 million, which includes the largest single year amount raised for endowed and operating support in the past decade and a 15% single year increase in philanthropic revenue over the prior fiscal year.

Over $2.3 million of this philanthropic support came from UD alumni, with an additional $680,000 given by current and former parents with a strategic giving focus on scholarship and faculty excellence. Additionally, more than 1,700 alumni contributed to their alma mater this past fiscal year. This total represents a 16% alumni participation rate, up from 14% during the 2020-21 fiscal year, demonstrating solid progress toward the Forging Our Future goal of at least 25% of UD undergraduate alumni making a gift each year by 2025. Finally, approximately 50% of faculty and staff also made a gift to the university in addition to their tireless efforts to ensure an outstanding education for UD students.

“Alumni classmates coming together in a groundbreaking peer-to-peer effort to support their alma mater, parents reflecting on their families’ positive experiences with the university, and faculty, staff and friends signaling their love for UD through their gifts of time, talent and treasure are what led to outstanding success this past year,” said Kris Muñoz Vetter, UD’s Vice President for Development and University Relations. “I am extremely grateful for each individual who made that success possible as a member of the larger UD community.” 

The past fiscal year included a number of history-making events in the life of the university, including the inauguration of Jonathan J. Sanford as UD’s 10th president in October and the consecration of campus to Our Lady of Guadalupe in May. Amid these two major events, the university celebrated the endowment reaching $100 million, debuted a new series, The Quest, on EWTN Global Catholic Television Network, and launched the St. Ambrose Center for Catholic Liberal Education and Culture. 

Record numbers of alumni and parents came back to campus for both Alumni and Family Weekend in October and Groundhog in February. Additionally, the university launched the Forging Our Future initiative to increase alumni participation to 25% by 2025 and achieved its most successful Cor Challenge in UD history in both dollars and participation.

“The University of Dallas, through its commitment to an excellent education that shapes the minds and character of all our students, nurtures deep friendships amongst our students and graduates, and thus fosters genuine community around a shared appreciation for those goods that make life most worth living,” said President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D. “Gratitude for the gifts provided by an institution so dedicated to its students’ personal and professional flourishing is what draws our alumni back to give and to participate in the life and culture of the university. I believe that our alumni have always felt this, but now we have increased our efforts to reach out to them and to encourage this homecoming. That is why this past fiscal year was such a success.”

About 96% of UD students receive some form of financial assistance, and gifts to the university’s Cor Fund directly support student scholarships and current university needs.

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