University of Maryland Business School Increases Capital Campaign Goal to $100M

College Park, Md. – March 26, 2010 – After surpassing its original $90 million fundraising goal two years early, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business has announced it will increase the seven-year target to $100 million in the campaign to support student scholarships, faculty recruitment and retention, facilities and innovation. The campaign goal is part of the university’s Great Expectations, the Campaign for Maryland drive to raise $1 billion, which began in July 2004. So far, the Smith School has raised more than $91 million.

“Our ability to solicit this level of support even through these last few years of great economic uncertainty really is a testament to the value of our mission,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “We’re dedicated to educating the next generation of leaders who understand how to use the power of business to impact social change, and the continued generous support of our alumni, friends and partners makes this goal possible.”

The Smith School Advisory Board voted to approve the campaign goal increase at the group’s spring meeting today.

Campaign impact to date:

• Total funds raised = $91.3 million
• Annual total for FY2010 through March is $13.2 million, exceeding the $12.5 million goal for the fiscal year
• More than 40 new student scholarships created
• Six new faculty awards and professorships established
• $15.5 million added to the Smith School’s endowment
• Annual contributions increased four-fold, from an average of $2 million - $3 million per year to an average of $11 million - $12 million per year

In the past decade, the Smith School has advanced from a regional business program to one of international prominence. Physically, the school has more than doubled in size and it continues to offer strong academic programs and foster world-leading research. In the past year, the Smith School has launched the Center for Social Value Creation and the Center for Financial Policy, highlighting the school’s dedication to exploring impact at the intersection of business, public policy and nonprofits in the nation’s capital. Much of the Smith School’s growth in the past decade has been funded privately through revenues from graduate-level and executive education courses and through the financial support of donors. About 20 percent of the school’s operating funds come from the state of Maryland.

More information about the Smith School’s campaign is available at www.rhsmith.umd.edu/give.