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Cal State Northridge Posts Best Year Ever for Fundraising
$28.8 Million in 2003-04 Ranks CSUN Among Cal State's Best Fundraising Campuses

The $28.8 million of charitable gift receipts from alumni, parents, supporters, foundations, corporations and CSUN employees represented a 53 percent increase over the $18.8 million raised in 2002-03. Based on the 2003-04 results, Cal State Northridge has become one of the most successful fundraisers among the 23 Cal State campuses.

"I want to thank our donors, our faculty and staff, and everyone else who has contributed to this outstanding result for Cal State Northridge," said CSUN President Jolene Koester. "Our community increasingly has recognized that support for Cal State Northridge is an investment that helps produce value for our students, the region's economy and our quality of life."

Leading the contributions to CSUN for 2003-04 was $15 million in Chinese antiquities given by Chinese-American entrepreneur Roland Tseng. That represented the second-year installment of a four-year, $38 million pledge to the university announced by Tseng in September 2003. The total pledge remains the largest ever among all campuses in the Cal State system.

Judy C. Knudson, CSUN's vice president for university advancement, said the 2003-04 results reflect a broadening of support for the university. Apart from the Tseng gift, the campus' fundraising total included $6.6 million from corporations, $3.8 million from foundations and more than $791,000 from alumni, the latter amount up 54 percent from the prior year.

"The private support we receive from the community gives Cal State Northridge the ability to maintain a margin of excellence beyond what state tax dollars can support," Knudson said. "With private support, we can offer unique and specialized educational programs, give our students access to state-of-the-art equipment and help support their studies through special scholarships."

CSUN's fundraising results for 2003-04 were part of a broader, system-wide fundraising report presented to the California State University Board of Trustees this week. The report shows CSUN fundraising increasing to $7.8 million in 1999-2000, $12.3 million in 2000-01, $12.5 million in 2001-02, $18.8 million in 2002-03, and most recently to $28.8 million for 2003-04.

In other indicators of the campus' success, the value of Cal State Northridge's endowments, investments that help support the operation of the university, increased 22 percent during 2003-04 to $36.8 million, a $6.7 million gain.

For the same year, Cal State Northridge recorded nearly $76.2 million in revenues from grants and contracts. That included $48.3 million from federal sources, $17.7 million from state and local government sources and $10.2 million from non-government sources. For the year, CSUN's total in grants and contracts revenue ranked fourth in the 23-campus CSU system.

After arriving at Cal State Northridge in July 2000, President Koester identified fundraising as one of her top four priorities for the university. The other priorities included strengthening the university's connections with its community, making the campus more user-friendly and improving student graduation rates.

Knudson, who heads CSUN's fundraising efforts, noted that the university's success in recent years is even more remarkable because it came during a time when a weak national economy and international instability led to modest nationwide declines in charitable giving to education.

In the coming years, much of Cal State Northridge's fundraising energy will focus on support for the 1,600-seat Valley Performing Arts Center project planned for the CSUN campus. That project, envisioned as a partnership with the community, is forecast to cost about $100 million, including about half in expected state funds and half in private support.

Cal State Northridge, with 31,000 full- and part-time students, offers 61 bachelor's and 42 master's degrees as well as 28 education credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest universities in the nation, and is the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. Cal State Northridge serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the San Fernando Valley and beyond.