Of the more than $500 million pledged or raised, more than $27 million — or 20 percent — of that money is projected to go toward Intercollegiate Athletics.
Ohio University has raised more than half a billion dollars through its Promise Lives Campaign, but less than one-sixth of the money may not be available to use for years.
In June, OU’s Promise Lives Campaign surpassed its goal and raised more than $500 million to help pay for university programs, according to a previous Post report.
The campaign, which started in 2007, came to a close June 30 and surpassed its goal of raising $450 million to support students, faculty, programs, outreach and facilities.
More than $310 million is “in the door,” which means the money already has been received by the Ohio University Foundation, Jennifer Bowie, executive director for Advancement Communication and Marketing, said in an email.
An additional $120 million of the total comes from “immediate” commitments, or pledges payable in three to five years.
Source: Jennifer Bowie, executive director for Advancement Communication and Marketing. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10 million.
However, more than $70 million is from “future” commitments, which are planned gifts that will realize, or convert into money, when a donor dies, Bowie said. That means the university does not currently have less than one-sixth of the money said to have been raised in the campaign.
Gifts and donations from about 81,000 people and organizations, including about 48,000 alumni, helped the campaign raise money, according to a previous Post report.
The money from the campaign will support university plans, with more than $170 million slotted to go toward academic divisions and programs and more than $100 million to go toward the university’s capital projects.
Of the total amount in the campaign, more than $220 million has been committed to OU’s endowment, which is a large sum of money the university invests. Profits from those investments typically are used to pay for things such as faculty positions or the construction of new buildings.
Joe McLaughlin, an associate professor of English and chair of Faculty Senate’s Finance and Facilities Committee, said he is pleased OU exceeded its goal for the campaign.
“It’s an impressive achievement, and lots of the money will benefit academic programs and our students,” McLaughlin said in an email. “While I do think most of the money raised will help the university and our students, clearly some of the money raised, particularly the money raised for athletic facilities, will not necessarily be of help to the university.”
Source: a previous Post report
Of the more than $500 million pledged or raised, more than $27 million — or 5.4 percent — of that money is projected to go toward Intercollegiate Athletics.
McLaughlin said the money going toward athletics could have been put to better use in other areas of the university.
Additional uses for the money include more than $11 million for the University Libraries and more than $73 million for student scholarships and financial aid.
“It is analogous to the family who accepts a gift of a swimming pool from a rich relative,” McLaughlin said in an email. “It’s nice, but can they really afford all the years of chemicals, the necessary fence and the effort of upkeep?”
“I just think that (the university) should … let people know what it’s going to,” Huddle said. “You raise a lot of money. You want to know what the money’s going to instead of them just being general and saying where it’s going."
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