C A M PA I G N U P DAT E
Giving by the Numbers Jim Liu spends time with his grandfather Liu Him in Hong Kong in 1972.
Not long after, at a Mizzou alumni event in California, Liu told an MU representative about his desire to create a scholarship. “They said, ‘We can work with that,’ ” Liu remembers. “Every year after that, I put a little bit into the fund.” Now, 33 years later, the Lius have contributed more than $2.2 million to the scholarship fund they started with a Christmas bonus. The Liu Him Memorial Scholarship, honoring the man who modeled generosity for Liu, has supported more than 100 MU students. Each year, the scholarship goes to as many as five students from Missouri, with amounts that vary according to financial need. “Part of my education was paid for by the Missouri taxpayers, and I always felt the need to pay them back,” he says. Of the Lius’ children, Phillip, MBA ’16, and Stephanie, JD ’13, only Stephanie briefly met her great-grandfather as a toddler. However, both carry on his legacy of generosity as Mizzou Alumni Association life members and members of multiple MU giving societies. “I always told my children to pay it forward,” Liu says. “Somebody helped you, so you need to help the future generation.”
“ When I opened the email with my financial aid offer, I actually started sobbing. I was overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude to see the Liu Him scholarship. It meant not only that my scholarships would cover all of my tuition, fees and books but also that I could take out fewer loans and not have to rely on parental financial help. I am forever grateful to the Lius.” — Lucie Trokey, senior biology major
The Mizzou family’s giving spirit has made the past year one for the record books. During the 2018–2019 academic year, the university reached several philanthropic milestones.
$200 million Donors contributed over $200 million to MU, setting a new one-year university record for philanthropic support and shattering the previous record of $170 million set in 2017. In the category of annual giving, or gifts under $10,000, that record fell, too. That new tally: $21.3 million
$1.2 billion This year’s giving brings the Mizzou: Our Time to Lead campaign total to just $50 million shy of its $1.3 billion goal. Launched in 2015, the campaign aims to secure MU’s status among the nation’s elite public universities.
14,115 A record number of volunteers gave back to Mizzou with their time and talents.
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Several MU academic units celebrated record years for giving: the schools of law and medicine and the colleges of education and veterinary medicine.
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