A record number of faculty and staff members turned out to celebrate the success of this year’s Believe campaign at a luncheon held today at the FAIRWINDS Alumni Center. Several hundred donors to the annual Faculty & Staff campaign were honored for their commitment to UCF – not only of time and talent, but financial resources, too.

 The month-long fundraising campaign enables UCF faculty and staff members to support the university’s strategic goals by giving annual or planned gifts.

 Longtime donor Rich Sloane, director, Community Relations, College of Education and Human Performance, acted as master of ceremonies. He thanked all the donors to the campaign and recognized the 98 campaign volunteers who motivated participants and provided timely campaign updates. He recalled the campaign’s beginnings as a small single college campaign—the College of Engineering and Computer Science—contrasting it to the large, campus-wide event it has become in just a few years.

 Prior campaigns focused on increasing the dollar amount raised. The focus of this year’s campaign was increased participation, with a goal of 1,500 total donors. This goal was met, with 1,544 donors to the campaign – many of them first time participants. This is a 12% increase over last year.

 Several areas had very high rates of participation in this year’s campaign. They included: International Services, the President’s Office and Community Relations, Athletics and the UCF Foundation and Alumni Association. The Burnett Honors College and the General Counsel’s Office tied for the highest participation rates; both achieved 100 percent participation.

Although increased participation was the goal of this year’s campaign, the total dollars raised was also high, with $1,036,248 raised.

 Funds support a wide variety of programs of the donors’ choosing, including student scholarships, facility enhancement and many other important initiatives. Contributions made to the First Generation Scholarship program are matched by the state.

To give a gift, please visit: ucffoundation.org