IMPACT, Winter 2020-21

IMPACT T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E U C F F O U N D AT I O N

SPECIAL ISSUE: ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

EXTRAORDINARY Throughout a tumultuous and trying year, UCF’s alumni, friends and partners didn’t flag in their generosity, continuing to make incredible things happen across the university community.

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WINTER

Thank you for believing in the power of higher education.

Your Endowed Fund Report

Inside Winter 2020–21 | Issue 2, Volume 4

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C .

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Limbitless Looks Ahead Limbitless Solutions, the UCFbased nonprofit that blends art and technology to create beautifully designed and functional bionic arms for children with limb difference, announced plans this fall to move the Limbitless Lab from its current home on the UCF campus to a larger facility in nearby Research Park.

The move is funded in large part by philanthropic contributions, including a new partnership with the software giant Adobe. The bigger lab will expand the program’s ability to scale production for more bionic arms, increase research activity with hospital partners, increase facilities to train college students in STEAM education, and advance the interdisciplinary student research program that results in innovative solutions for real world problems.

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FLASH POINTS Cartwrights’ giving / Vice President Maribeth Ehasz / Kristina Merritt ’12 / top-ranked programs / Keep Charging On / online shift

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10 MINUTES WITH… Margery Pabst Steinmetz, co-founder of the Pabst Steinmetz Foundation

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PERSPECTIVE Foundation CEO Mike Morsberger on the power of endowment giving 2020 Annual Report to Donors

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YEAR IN REVIEW An illustrated list of some of the gifts, people, events and milestones that helped define 2020 for UCF and the foundation.

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EXTRAORDINARY Throughout a tumultuous and trying year, UCF’s alumni, friends and partners didn’t flag in their generosity, continuing to make incredible things happen across the university community.

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NEW ENDOWED FUNDS IN 2020 We salute the donors who established endowments this year to benefit UCF and its students.

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FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Fundraising results / endowment performance / financial position / university support

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VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP UCF Foundation Board of Directors / UCF Alumni Board / UCF Board of Trustees

IMPACT is published three times a year by UCF Advancement for alumni, friends and partners of the university who have made philanthropic commitments. Please direct correspondence and address changes to foundation@ucf.edu or Impact Editor, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 250, Orlando, FL 32826.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT AND CEO, UCF FOUNDATION, INC. Michael J. Morsberger

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS Patrick Crowley

MANAGING EDITOR Zack Thomas

ART DIRECTOR John Sizing | jspublicationdesign.com

U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C . 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

Melinda and Alexander Cartwright

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Shining Knight

Doing Their Part

Cartwrights commit $250,000 across the university.

President Alexander N. Cartwright and his wife, First Lady Melinda K. Cartwright, arrived at UCF in the middle of a global pandemic, knowing the foreseeable future was going to prove challenging. They also knew they wanted to do their part to secure the university’s future.

“Before we officially took the position, we started thinking about what should we do for UCF? What should we do for everybody that’s here?” President Cartwright says.

Within their first weeks on campus, the Cartwrights donated $25,000 to emergency relief funds to help immediately and then pledged an additional $225,000 to priorities including scholarships for first-generation students, STEM research, the humanities, athletics and an unrestricted fund to be used for the university’s greatest needs. “We gave to the areas that we value most,” Cartwright says.

The Cartwrights were both first-generation students who received some funding through Pell Grants, which are subsidies provided by the U.S. government for students who demonstrate exceptional financial need. When Mrs. Cartwright’s Pell funding ran out, she, like so many other students, had to find other means to pay for her studies.

“I started taking out student loans and working jobs as a waitress and doing whatever I could to try and make it through,” she says.

“We hope to take that burden away from other students, so they can focus on their studies.”

“It’s just one small way that we could pay back to future generations what was given to us by people who were generous,” President Cartwright says.

“BEFORE WE OFFICIALLY TOOK THE POSITION, WE STARTED THINKING ABOUT WHAT SHOULD WE DO FOR UCF?”

“I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED OTHERS TO HAVE THE SAME OPPORTUNITY FOR SUCCESS AS I DID.” —UCF Vice President for Student Development and Enrollment Services Maribeth Ehasz, who has announced she will retire in February after 46 years (including 16 at UCF) working to expand access to higher education for deserving students.

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C .

“I’m proud to be a Knight because UCF is truly a remarkable institution,” says Kristina Merritt ’12, a first-generation college graduate who earned dual bachelor’s degrees in psychology and political science before going on to law school.

In February, Merritt was named to UCF Alumni’s 2020 class of 30 Under 30, chosen for her professional success and her focus on giving back to her alma mater and the community.

Then in September, she was announced as the year’s Shining Knight award winner in the Young Alumni category.

As the philanthropy chair of the UCF Alumni Tampa Bay Chapter, she partners with local nonprofit Feeding Tampa Bay and serves as chair-elect for the Junior League of Tampa’s Kids in the Kitchen program, where she focuses on child welfare and education. At UCF, she gives to help fund scholarships for firstgeneration Knights and students in the College of Sciences.

Giving to scholarships was an easy choice because, she says, the scholarship support she received as a student — combined with her parents’ belief in her — was critical to her own success. “I found my voice and my passion for philanthropy through UCF and the student organizations I was involved in,” says Merritt.

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Top-ranked Programs For the second time in five years, UCF’s graduate game design program was ranked No. 1 in the country this spring by The Princeton Review and PC Gamer magazine. Located at UCF Downtown, the program trains approximately 130 graduate students as artists, programmers

and producers in the gaming industry. The undergraduate game design program also ranked highly at No. 14.

Also this year, the Rosen College of Hospitality Management was ranked the No. 1 hospitality and tourism program in the U.S. and the No. 2 program worldwide in the ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, which is considered the most influential ranking among world-renowned universities, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

In the College of Community Innovation and Education, the graduate program in Emergency and Crisis Management was ranked No. 2 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, while the Nonprofit Management program was No. 5. In all, 27 graduate programs across the university were ranked in the top 100 of their fields this year.

Keep Charging On

Coaches and AD kick off campaign to support UCF Athletics.

“THIS IS OUR WAY OF SENDING THAT MESSAGE TO ALL OF KNIGHT NATION.”

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The COVID pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to intercollegiate athletics programs across the country, hitting younger institutions like UCF the hardest — institutions without huge endowment pools to help absorb decreases in ticket revenue and cash giving.

But Vice President and Director of Athletics Danny White has no intention of letting the momentum the Knights have built over the past four years subside. This summer, he and his wife, Shawn, established the Keep Charging On Fund with a lead gift of $100,000.

Football coach Josh Heupel and his wife, Dawn; men’s basketball coach Johnny Dawkins and his wife, Tracy; and women’s basketball coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson and her husband, Michael, quickly followed suit, contributing an additional $430,000.

“We all have seen the tremendous progress we’ve made toward accomplishing the goals we set out in our strategic plan — and we couldn’t be any more committed to making them happen,” White said.

“This is our way of sending that message to all of Knight Nation.”

The Keep Charging On Fund is a focused, one-year effort to secure $2 million in unrestricted giving to UCF athletics. Unrestricted gifts can be put to immediate use wherever they’re needed most.

By mid-October, 976 different donors — including almost 90 percent of Knights coaches and staff — had combined to give a total of almost $1.4 million, or about two-thirds of the goal.

To make a gift of your own, visit keepchargingon.com.

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NUMBER OF UCF PROGRAMS NOW AVAILABLE FULLY ONLINE, including 25 bachelor’s degrees, 34 master’s, three doctorates and 41 graduate certificates. The university passed the 100-program milestone this fall with the creation of 11 new certificates specifically in response to workforce demands created by COVID. U.S. News & World Report ranks UCF among the top 20 online bachelor’s programs in the nation.

U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C . 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

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I LIKE TO THINK THAT THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF AN ERA OF PUTTING THINGS BACK TOGETHER.

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PETER BURG

10 MINUTES WITH...

Margery Pabst Steinmetz Co-founder, Pabst Steinmetz Foundation; Creator, mycaregivingcoach.com

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ack in the early 2000s, Margery Pabst Steinmetz H’20 found herself suddenly in the role of caregiver, not once or even twice but three times over a five-year span during which her husband and both of her parents passed away. “It’s one of those things that just comes upon you, and now you’ve got to cope with it,” she says. “One day you’re not a caregiver, and the next day you are. I was winging it, quite frankly.”

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C .

Afterward, she wrote a book about caregiving (“mostly as therapy for myself,” she says) and during that process realized that many of the best times she remembered from those difficult years involved making things together. “In the evenings, when they were sick, I’d play piano for them or we’d tell stories together,” she says. “And I found that creativity — even if it was just cutting up vegetables and making soup together — brought us all a sense of being back to normal, at least for a while. We could laugh, and it wasn’t all just about the illness or the day-today drudgery of medications.

We could be a family again.”

Ever since, Pabst Steinmetz has dedicated herself to advancing the idea that participation in the arts directly and measurably improves wellness and has made generous gifts to a variety of organizations. At UCF, the Pabst Steinmetz Foundation — which she founded in 2018 with her husband, Chuck, who she married in 2014 — funds the annual Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts & Wellness Innovation Awards, granting $25,000 each to two teams of UCF scholars working with community partners on interdisciplinary projects.

Is this a new idea, that arts and wellness are interconnected?

Not at all. In the times of Aris-

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totle and Plato, when Greece was at its zenith, theatre was seen as an important way to gain perspective on one’s life.

They didn’t talk about it in terms of quantitative data like we do today, but it was widely acknowledged that a good, healthy life was one that involved the arts. Only in the last several hundred years has the Western mind sought to pull these things apart into separate disciplines.

Certainly there are positives to that, but what it has also done is dissected our knowledge. I like to think that this is the beginning of the era of putting things back together again.

By “wellness,” do you mean emotional and mental wellbeing, or physical health too?

We’re talking about a holistic, mind-body way of addressing human health. There’s significant quantitative research coming out now addressing things like whether the arts can mitigate stress or extend lifespan. Those are things that can be looked at from a physiological standpoint. And much of the data says that human health can be improved by the arts as much as it can be by pills in some instances.

Is just viewing or watching or listening beneficial, or do the benefits come mainly from actually creating?

Participating is always better than viewing. It’s like when you exercise and get your endorphins going. The act of creating is good for both your mind and your body. Of course, going to museums, going to concerts, going to plays — that’s certainly helpful too. There was a study in Canada that tracked people who made it their business to visit their local museums regularly and found that they were both happier and healthier. Still, most of the models that our foundation

supports get at the participative angle — getting children, caregivers, older adults to draw, to sing, to compose.

How receptive or resistant is the medical community to these ideas?

It’s more a lack of awareness than resistance. A medical education is very deep and very narrow, so a lot of doctors simply haven’t thought about these other tools they could work with that can produce very good results, particularly when it comes to older patients, patients with chronic diseases, chronic pain, patients receiving palliative care, these kinds of things. The medical school curriculum is so full that there’s not really time for students to learn how they can utilize the arts in their practice. But things are changing. Some medical schools are starting to make more room in the curriculum.

At UCF, there’s an active student and faculty organization called Arts in Medicine that promotes the benefits of art for their own health and that of their patients. It’s really wonderful to see students advocating for that. That’s part of why I love this area so much — it’s still kind of a baby, but there’s so much promise and opportunity.

PERSPECTIVE

The Power of Endowment Although we didn’t plan it this way, five of the six stories about donors, gifts and impact in this annual report involve endowment giving. It’s a form of philanthropic support that’s vitally important to public and private universities, and yet it isn’t widely understood beyond the boundaries of campus.

In the simplest terms, an endowment gift is a donation that is kept rather than spent. Most other gifts are used quickly to meet the needs of the recipient organization. But an endowed gift is invested and carefully managed by the recipient. Each year, a portion of the earnings are spent according to the donor’s wishes — to award scholarships, for example. The remaining earnings are reinvested so that the fund grows gradually over time.

Recognizing the positive impact endowed funds can have on future Knights, my wife, Marybeth, and I decided to establish the Morsberger Family Scholarship Fund for first-generation students.

Unexpected events — like those that seem to have struck one after another this year — serve as good reminders of the importance of endowment.

When outside forces affect other sources of funding, a university’s endowment continues to provide needed dollars with relative consistency. For example, 2020 saw season ticket revenue for intercollegiate athletics nosedive across the country. Likewise, cash giving to support scholarships and other priority areas is expected to drop significantly this calendar year. And yet endowments — thanks to carefully crafted spending policies — continue to yield virtually the same crucial support for those areas as they did the year before.

In fact, many of the endowment funds that are helping students today were established decades ago and continue growing, yielding more funding with each passing year. Although donations intended for immediate use can create greater impact in the short term — as was the case this year, when donors helped many students weather pandemic-related financial crises — nothing can match the impact over time of endowment giving.

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Michael J. Morsberger serves as UCF’s Vice President for Advancement and as Chief Executive Officer of the UCF Foundation, Inc.

Notes of Gratitude

In this space, we feature excerpts from thank-you letters the foundation receives from students and others whose lives have been changed by donors like you. Madison Iferd sent this one after receiving the Brooke Dawkins Memorial Scholarship, named in memory of a UCF student who tragically passed away in 2014.

It is such an honor to have bee n awarded the Brooke Dawkins Memorial Scholarship. I thank all who donated to such a worthy memorial of a Kappa De lta sister who was taken too soon. I want you to know that thi s will help me turn my dreams into reality. It is my dearest ho pe that I represent all that Brooke was and that I make all those who knew her proud.

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YEAR IN REVIEW JULY People, gifts, events and milestones together defined Fiscal Year 2020 for UCF Advancement. Here are a few of the most memorable.

New Limbitless Partnership Limbitless Solutions, the UCF-based nonprofit that uses 3D-printing technology to create personalized bionic arms for children in the limb difference community, announces a multiyear partnership with Stratsys, a global leader in additive manufacturing, that will help Limbitless amplify its impact.

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AUGUST

Strides in Student Success

Top Workforce Supplier

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities names UCF one of three finalists for its 2019 Degree Completion Award, recognizing the university’s great strides in addressing disparity between retention and graduation rates of Black and Hispanic students and their white counterparts.

For the fifth consecutive year, Aviation Week Network identifies UCF as the No. 1 workforce supplier of graduates to the U.S. aerospace and defense industries.

Funding for UCF RESTORES The U.S. Army awards $1 million to UCF RESTORES, the university’s groundbreaking PTSD clinic, to continue development of its own virtual-reality software to treat active-duty service members, military veterans and first responders.

Innovation Recognition For the fourth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report ranks UCF among the nation’s most innovative universities. UCF also places in the top 50 for best undergraduate teaching and undergraduate research.

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER

NASA Funding NASA funds two UCF research projects that will help scientists better understand the nature of lunar dust so that its potentially damaging effects to equipment and spacecraft during lunar landings can be minimized.

NOVEMBER DECEMBER

Best-Ever Incoming Class

IGNITE Success

UCF’s fall 2019 incoming class boasts an average high school GPA of 4.17, the highest in the university’s history. The class also sets records for average SAT and ACT scores.

During Homecoming weekend, IGNITE Campaign Chair Rick Walsh ’77 ’83MS HC’14 announces the final result of the historic, eight-year fundraising effort — $531 million in gifts and commitments for priorities across the university.

Arecibo Grant The National Science Foundation announces a $12.3 million grant for repairs and improvements at the UCF-managed Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, home to the largest fully operational radio telescope in the world.

UCF Downtown Opens The university’s new campus in downtown Orlando — made possible by more than $20 million in philanthropic support, including $7 million from Dr. Phillips Charities — opens to nearly 8,000 UCF and Valencia College students who will attend classes there during the fall semester.

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C .

3.30 StudentAthlete GPA UCF’s studentathletes turn in an average GPA of 3.30 for the semester, extending their record-setting streak to 24 consecutive semesters with a GPA of 3.0 or better.

1, 2019 – JUNE 30, 2020

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Helios Grant The Helios Education Foundation makes a $650,000 grant to the Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Research Universities to assist students at UCF, USF and FIU with immediate financial needs due to the pandemic.

Care Calls In response to the COVID pandemic, UCF’s Knight Line student callers transition from fundraising to “care calling,” making tens of thousands of goodwill calls to provide alumni and parents with a glimpse of life at the university and ask if there’s anything UCF can do for them.

Cheer Championship UCF’s Cheer Team claims the Universal Cheerleaders Association 2020 National Championship. It is the third national championship for the program, which has placed in the top 10 of the championship 25 times in the last 27 years.

Fiesta Bowl The eighth-ranked Knights’ historic 25-game win streak

JANUARY

ends on New Year’s Day when UCF falls 40-32 in a hard-fought Fiesta Bowl battle against No. 11 LSU and the Tigers’ Heismanwinning quarterback.

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

Best Value College

President Cartwright

Rosen College No. 1

The Princeton Review again names UCF a Best Value College for 2020. The annual ranking lists 200 institutions, representing only about seven percent of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities.

The Florida Board of Governors confirms the UCF Board of Trustees’ selection of University of Missouri Chancellor Alexander N. Cartwright as UCF’s next president. Cartwright starts at UCF in April.

UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management is ranked as the best of its kind in the nation and secondbest in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities published

by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.

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Securing Patents With 44 patents secured in 2019, UCF ranks 29th among public U.S. universities and 65th among all universities worldwide.

UCF has made the list of the top 100 patent-securing universities in the world every year since 2013, when the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association began compiling it.

U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C . 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

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EXTRAORDINARY To call fiscal year 2020 an eventful one for UCF and the UCF Foundation is to dramatically understate what occurred during those 12 months from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020 — not just a global pandemic and the onset of widespread civil unrest, but also the hiring of a new university president, the successful close of the university’s most ambitious campaign ever, a historic 25-game winning streak on the football field, and, perhaps most importantly, the conferring of more than 8,500 degrees during a massive virtual commencement ceremony.

Yet amazingly, in a post-campaign year (when giving typically lags) complicated by a presidential transition, the economic havoc caused by COVID-19, and the postponement or cancellation of a huge swath of university activities, the UCF Foundation closed its books at the end of June on the third-best fundraising result in university history with $63.7 million in gifts and commitments — just two percent short of the $65 million goal university leaders had set.

Of course we take some pride in that. After all, for the second year in a row, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, an international professional organization, recognized the UCF Foundation with its Educational Fundraising Award, given for overall performance and improvement over a three-year span and determined by a blind review of data. And Foundation CEO Mike Morsberger was one of two recipients of the Commonfund College and University Foundation Award, one of the fundraising industry’s most prestigious national honors.

But it is UCF’s friends, alumni, corporate partners and employees who, through their generosity and vision, continued to make incredible things happen all year long across the university community, to set in motion changes of all sizes and kinds that make life better for others, even as the world around us changed more quickly and profoundly than we could have imagined the year before.

In this report, we celebrate the extraordinary things achieved by a few of those donors and the often fascinating ways in which they achieved them.

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C .

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VISION REALIZED In the UCF Foundation’s 2011 annual report, a story ran about Bert and Tillie Hood, a local couple who that year had “reached out to UCF and, without fanfare, announced that they planned to name the university as the sole beneficiary of their estate.”

Although their only previous tie to the university was attending classes as members of the Learning Institute for Elders at UCF (LIFE@UCF), the Hoods, said the story’s last sentence, “are now profoundly connected to UCF and

the generations of students whose lives will be transformed by their commitment to education.”

“We always knew we wanted to support students at our local university,” said Bert when he and Tillie were interviewed for the story.

We stayed in touch with the Hoods after that and visited them several more times before Tillie passed away in 2017, followed by Bert in 2018. After Bert’s passing, a close friend of the couple told us that Bert’s biggest regret had

been not going to college. “He and Tillie would be so proud,” he said, “to know their frugal lifestyle will enable others to do just that.”

This fall, Bert and Tillie’s vision was realized on a grand scale when not one or two, nor even five or 10, but an incredible 30 deserving students were selected to receive the Albert and Ottilie Hood Endowed Scholarship.

And because the scholarship is endowed, it will only grow with time, benefiting more students with every passing year. I

How a local couple’s extraordinary commitment to education helped 30 deserving Knights afford college this year.

U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C . 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

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A GREATER COMMITMENT

“You’ll be surprised how many people are willing to help if you ask,” says Kyle Simpson ’11, reflecting on how important it is to find mentors to better navigate inevitable hard life decisions. “I benefited from the wisdom and encouragement of several mentors during my time at UCF. I knew I wanted

to do the same for future UCF students, but in a way that felt authentic to me.”

Simpson has been helping ever since he was a student at UCF. A former chair of the President’s Leadership Council, (PLC), a selective student organization whose members serve the university by acting as a student advisory group to the president, Simpson has been giving generously to help fund scholarships for UCF students since the year after he graduated.

But this year he made an even greater commitment to future PLC students by establishing an endowed scholarship. Because

endowment gifts are kept and invested, rather than spent, they provide support to generations of students through investment earnings, which grow gradually over time.

“It’s an awe-inspiring group of students,” Simpson says.

“When I was on the Council (2009–2011), we had future doctors, future professional athletes, even a rocket scientist.

I’m proud to have served on PLC and was thrilled to create an award specifically for those students.” He hopes the scholarship produces a group of recipients who feel connected to each other, to PLC and to the university.

Currently, Simpson serves

How a former President’s Leadership Council chair has already helped generations of future PLC students just nine years after his own graduation. as philanthropy chair of the UCF Alumni Board and sits on the finance committee of the UCF Foundation Board but wants to continue to support his alma mater in multiple ways, even though he’s now living in Philadelphia. “It’s an exciting time in UCF’s history and I’m thankful to still be connected,” he says. I

Bob Case (right)

WHAT AN HONOR

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STAYING AFLOAT thesis and graduate in May 2021 with her bachelor’s in nursing.

Then COVID happened.

Etienne’s internship was canceled and she had no other source of summer income. “I was nervous,” she says, “I was scared. Tuition was still due.”

Help came in the form of

Across the university, similar stories played out — students in sudden financial distress because of COVID who were helped by donor-funded emergency support programs.

Many benefitted from $200,000 in funding donated by the Helios Education Foundation

How private philanthropy helped Josée Etienne and hundreds of other students make it through COVIDrelated financial crises

Josée Etienne (right)

At the beginning of March, halfway through the second semester of her junior year, things were falling into place perfectly for Josée Etienne.

She had secured a full-time, paid internship with Orlando Health for the coming summer that would cover both her rent and her tuition for the three summer classes she needed. The following year, she would finish her clinicals, coursework and honors

When Bob Case ’70 passed away unexpectedly in April 2020, UCF’s College of Business lost an integral part of its history. Part of the college’s first graduating class, Case later served as a member and chair of the Dean’s Executive Council. He was inducted into the College of Business Hall of Fame in 2002 and honored with the college’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. “If the college had a name, it would be Bob,” said Dean Paul Jarley after Case’s passing. “The college won’t be the same without him.”

Now, a new teaching and learning space for the Department of Integrated Business will be dedicated in Case’s honor. The project is funded by gifts from another prominent business graduate, Jessica Blume ’80; from the department’s founding chair, Jim Gilkeson; and from members of the Integrated Business Advisory Board. Gilkeson also documented an estate gift to fund student scholarships.

the College of Nursing Student Emergency Fund, a fund established years earlier and maintained by private donations to support students through financial crises like the one Etienne was facing. Thanks to the emergency fund, she and five other students in similar circumstances were able to stay afloat through a difficult summer and return to UCF this fall.

At the same time, several donors stepped forward to replenish the fund, led by UCF Foundation board member Carrie Callahan and by the Gertrude Skelly Charitable Foundation, which gave $25,000.

for so-called completion grants — one-time grants to help COVID-affected students cross the finish line.

As for Etienne, she’s still on track to graduate in May 2021.

After that, she hopes to work in a neonatal intensive care unit for a few years before returning to school to pursue her doctorate in nursing practice. “I want to use that degree to travel to some less fortunate countries and give back. There’s a lot of mothers out there who need prenatal and neonatal care, and I would love to be able to give them some of my time and knowledge.” I

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The recognition is particularly meaningful since Case was a founding member of the Integrated Business Advisory Board and remained instrumental in the program as it grew in just five years to become UCF’s eighth-biggest major.

“This new classroom allows Dr. Gilkeson and his talented group of instructors to continue the format of instruction that is so successful,” says Blume. “Bob would be so pleased that it is dedicated in his honor.”

Case’s legacy will be represented beyond the new classroom too. In September, his widow, Jan, moved by the generosity of Blume, Gilkeson, and the advisory board, made a commitment of her own to establish an endowed scholarship in his name for integrated business students.

Because the scholarship is funded by an endowment, it will grow with time, helping students for generations to come.

“Bob would be very humbled by this,” says Jan. “What an honor.” I

How an outpouring of generosity has ensured that the dedication and service of a beloved College of Business alumnus will be remembered in perpetuity.

U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C . 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

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THE SAME LADDER

How a retired CEO who was lifted out of poverty through education is helping ensure generations of future students get a chance of their own.

“I know what it’s like to be poor, and I know what education can do for you,” says Julian Boyden of his motivation for establishing the Doris Boyden Endowed Scholarship at UCF this year. That’s putting it mildly on both counts. Boyden grew up in England in a camper without electricity or running water and retired as CEO of a prominent American chemical company.

His mother and grandmother, who raised him together after his father was killed in World War II, were “very keen on education,” Boyden says, and pushed him to read and study. That led to a degree in chemistry, then a degree in accounting, then a master’s in management from MIT, then a globe-spanning career. “It’s education that pulls you up from poverty,” he says.

Even retired and living in Florida in his mid-60s, Boyden couldn’t stay away from the academy, convincing faculty in UCF’s history department in 2008 to admit him to the master’s program for what would be his fourth degree. “That one was purely for pleasure,” he says.

By naming the scholarship for his wife, he hopes to honor the sacrifices that made his career possible and held their family together as they moved around Europe, Asia and North America.

And, he says, he hopes to help another deserving student start climbing the same ladder he was led to as a child by his mother and grandmother. I

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C .

How two grandparents, inspired by their granddaughter’s love for horticulture, are helping ensure the future of the UCF Arboretum and of the students who learn and work there.

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Wayne Harris and his wife, Sandra Harris, never expected their granddaughter Kelsie Johnson ’16 (above) to choose a career that involved the outdoors. But when she announced she was pursuing horticulture and environmental conservation, they were thrilled by her newfound passion and watched as she rose from a volunteer at the UCF Arboretum to its program coordinator.

Ultimately, Johnson’s love for her work led her grandparents to make a generous commitment to the arboretum’s endowment fund. “The true motivation for the gift was seeing a young mind become so inspired and enjoy the program she’s working in,” Wayne Harris says. “Some jobs are

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NEWFOUND PASSION just a paycheck, but you can see the passion she brings to her work.”

The Harrises felt compelled to help more students access careers in nature, and their gift does exactly that. The Arboretum Endowment Fund supports both arboretum programming and the students who study, intern and volunteer with the arboretum. “Nature has so many healing properties,” Sandra Harris says. “More young people today need to know and experience creation.”

The UCF Arboretum, which is open to the public, was established in 1983 by President Trevor Colbourn and comprises not only the more than 800 acres of natural lands on campus but also the tremendous variety of native and introduced plants that make the developed areas of campus uniquely verdant and beautiful as well as a community farm and garden. I U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C . 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

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New Endowed Funds in 2020

Endowment gifts are vital to UCF’s pursuit of excellence, and growing the endowment pool is a key priority of UCF Advancement. Because they are invested in perpetuity, such gifts represent a relatively stable source of funding that is largely unaffected by fluctuations in state support, tuition revenue and non-endowment giving. We salute the donors who established endowed funds in Fiscal Year 2020 to benefit UCF and its students.

Raymond and Jennifer Smithberger Endowed Fund Raymond ’02MBA and Jennifer Smithberger’s scholarship fund supports first-generation students enrolled in the College of Business, with preference given to Hispanic Student Association members who are involved in their communities.

The Corey Family Endowed Scholarship Fund Michael H’17 and Loretta Corey H’17 created this scholarship to aid full-time undergraduates who are homeless, at risk for homelessness or living in a shelter.

Wendy Chioji Memorial Scholarship Fund Wendy Chioji spent 20 years at local WESH-TV and publicly fought a long cancer battle. This memorial scholarship will help journalism students in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media.

Edwin & Sarah Smith Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund The scholarship, established

by UCF parent and foundation board member Roslyn Smith Burttram in honor of her parents, Edwin and Sarah Smith, benefits students in the College of Nursing enrolled in the BSN-to-PhD program.

Omar Radwan with his wife and son

Omar Radwan Scholarship Endowed Fund As a student, Omar Radwan ’03 was a campus DJ and a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. As an alum, he worked at UCF in information technology until his death in 2019. His wife, Ghada Baz, established the scholarship in honor of his legacy.

Robert and JJ Mackle Endowed Study Abroad Fund JJ ’00, a member of the UCF Alumni Board, and Robert Mackle, established this fund to help students in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media pay for tuition, housing and expenses associated with studying abroad.

The Dawes-Cerekwicki Family Scholarship Fund Endowment Together with his wife, Theresa, Glen W. Dawes ’84, chief financial officer at the UCF Foundation, established this scholarship for first-generation college students.

Deal Family Endowed Nursing Scholarship This fund will provide scholarship awards to graduate

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C .

and event support for advancing women in leadership.

Wayne D. Chalifoux/DRMP Endowment Fund Wayne Chalifoux is former president and CEO of DRMP, an engineering design firm.

He established the scholarship for undergraduate students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science majoring in civil, environmental and construction engineering.

students in the College of Nursing.

Zeta Phi Sigma Endowed Scholarship Fund This fund provides scholarship awards to undergraduates, with preference given to those who volunteer in African American communities.

GKF Endowed Scholarship This scholarship will support students majoring in the criminal justice program.

Woody Walker Leadership and Mentorship Fund Endowment Woody Walker ’92, a member of the UCF Alumni Board and the UCF College of Business Board, and her husband, Christopher G. Walker ’94, established this fund to provide programmatic

The Pattisapu Neuroscience Research, Education & Development Fund Dr. Jogi Pattisapu, a neurosurgeon, established this fund to support education, research and development in neuroscience.

Pattisapu served on the original curriculum committee for the UCF College of Medicine and lobbied lawmakers to approve the school.

Augustin Military to Public Service Transition Scholarship Maria-Elena Augustin ’08MPA established this scholarship for graduate students in the College of Community Innovation and Education who are veterans or are currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

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Dr. Naim Kapucu Scholarship for Doctoral Students Fund Naim Kapucu is a Pegasus Professor and the founding director of the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management at UCF. This fund will provide scholarship awards to doctoral students with research interest in public administration and democratic governance at the School of Public Administration.

Marine Corps colonel who died in 2012.

UCF Dreamers DACA Scholarship Fund This scholarship was created by a UCF alumnus and volunteer who supports first-generation “Dreamers” — immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children — in their pursuit of higher education.

Troy McQuagge HOPE Endowed Scholarship Fund Troy McQuagge ’83 established this scholarship for first-generation students from Florida who are committed to helping others.

Cartwright Family Humanities & Arts Entertainment Endowed Fund The purpose of the Humanities & Arts Fund is to provide support to students and faculty.

Established by President and Mrs. Cartwright, the fund is open to students in all colleges.

The Laassel Family Political Science Endowed Scholarship Fund This fund will benefit students in the School of Politics, Security and International Affairs, with preference given to students who are in a student organization focused on empowering women through education.

Cartwright Family STEM Research Endowment Fund President and Mrs. Cartwright established this endowed fund to provide STEM research support for students and faculty in all colleges and disciplines.

Roberta and Howard Brunet Endowed Scholarship Roberta ’76 and Howard Brunet ’75 established this scholarship for first-generation students majoring in music and working while attending UCF.

SPIE-Glebov Family Optics and Photonics Graduate Scholarship This scholarship was established with a gift from Larissa Glebova and Leonid Glebov, longtime faculty members and supporters of the College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL), and a matching gift from SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Colonel Walter Augustin Endowed First Generation Scholarship Maria-Elena Augustin ’08MPA established this scholarship to honor her husband, Walter Augustin, a first-generation student, public servant and

R. David Patton and Dana Patton Endowed Scholarship Alumni Board member Dana ’93 and her husband Dave Patton ’93 established this scholarship for all students, with preference to incoming freshman with a high school GPA of 3.75 or higher.

Soileau Family-SPIE Optics & Photonics Undergraduate Scholarship This scholarship was established with a gift from M.J. Soileau, Distinguished Professor of Optics and Photonics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics, and his wife, Cheryl, and a matching gift from SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Dr. Corey A. Frazier First Generation Scholarship Fund This scholarship will assist first-generation students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Todd Miller Memorial Fellowship Fund Established by Synergy’s Foundation for Those with Special Needs, Inc., the scholarship will support graduate students studying in the athletic training program.

Alfred I. duPont Nursing Scholarship Fund The Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust, one of America’s most generous supporters of pediatric health care, has established this scholarship to support students enrolled in the College of Nursing who have demonstrated an interest in the field of pediatrics.

Dr. Robert & Nancy Matteson Endowed M.D. Scholarship Fund This scholarship is for students at the College of Medicine, with preference given to Florida residents.

Martine Vanryckeghem & Gene Brutten Endowed Scholarship Fund Graduate students studying in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders will benefit from this scholarship.

Those who specialize in the area of fluency disorders and international students will be given preference.

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Cathi Carruthers Endowed Fund Carruthers, a former elementary school teacher, established this scholarship for students studying in the College of Community Innovation and Education.

MAKE AN IMPACT To learn more about establishing an endowment at UCF, contact us at 407.882.1220 or foundation@ucf.edu.

U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C . 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

16

2020 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020)

I M PACT

FUNDRAISING RESULTS

$63,693,374

36,871

141,597

Total gifts and commitments

Number of donors

Number of gifts

(Includes cash gifts, pledges, securities, gifts in kind and planned gifts)

Buildings and Equipment

13%

Current Use

Friends

29.9%

%

Endowment

Corporations

48.2%

Undetermined

7%

DONOR CLASSIFICATION

75%

%

5%

DESIGNATED USE

Alumni

14.7% Foundations

5.6%

Organizations

1.6%

2020 Audit Results This fall, the UCF Foundation received an unqualified audit opinion from independent, external auditors.

The foundation has a long history of clean audit findings, but this year the achievement was particularly meaningful in light of the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic, an abrupt shift to remote work and a transition to a paperless process. The foundation takes pride in a deep commitment to proper internal controls and safeguards of financial assets, as well as effective stewardship of the gifts entrusted to us.

ENDOWMENT PERFORMANCE LAST 3 YEARS (7/1/17 – 6/30/20)

FY 2020 (7/1/19 – 6/30/20)

Beginning market value Net cash flow Appreciation Ending market value Endowment pool investment return

LAST 5 YEARS (7/1/15 – 6/30/20)

$164,776,217 $156,908,945 $150,688,036 $860,605 $4,718,330 $1,385,521 -$2,714,992 $1,294,556 $10,848,274 $162,921,830 $162,921,830 $162,921,830 1.4%

4.4%

4.9%

Net cash flow includes contributions to endowments, endowment fees and spending distributions. Appreciation includes net investment activity and all fees.

FINANCIAL POSITION

UNIVERSITY SUPPORT

(As of 6/30/20, in millions)

40

Cash and investments $237.8 Property $131.9 Receivables and other assets $27.2 Total assets $396.9

Expenses incurred on behalf of the university, by fiscal year, in millions.

20

Outstanding debt Payables and other liabilities Total liabilities Net assets

$71.5 $3.2 $74.7 $322.2

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C .

$34.7

30

$19.2

$22.0

$26.3

$28.0

$25.7

10

FY15

FY16

FY17

FY18

FY19

FY20

17

VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP (Fiscal Year 2020)

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UCF FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Members of the UCF Foundation Board of Directors give generously of their time, their expertise and their resources to advance the University of Central Florida. The following directors served through Fiscal Year 2020. A current board roster is available at ucffoundation.org/board-of-directors.

Officers John D. Euliano Sr. H’18 Chair Tony Moreno Jr. ’91 Vice Chair Carrie Callahan ’92 Vice Chair Alan Florez ’98 Treasurer Sara Bernard ’00 Secretary Directors Jessica Blume ’80 Clint Bullock ’95 Roslyn Burttram P’20 Brian Butler Loretta Corey H’17 Catherine McCaw-Engelman James W. Ferrell ’80 Douglas E. Gearity, M.D. Bruce Gould Tracey Guillot-Henley, PsyD Gideon J. Lewis ’00, P.A. Diane Mahony ’96 ’01MEd ’14EdS Kevin Miller Mary Beth Morgan Dianne Owen ’93 Dana Patton ’93 Mark Plaumann ’74 ’79MBA J. Oscar Rodriguez ’86 Chris Tomasso ’93 Eva Tukdarian ’90, ’91MSA Kevin Wydra ’92 Joyce Virga ’98

Ex-Officio Directors Beverly J. Seay H’18 Alexander Cartwright Dan Ward ’92 Directors Emeriti James T. Barnes Jr. R. Van Bogan Olga Calvet ’71 Peter Dagostino Alan G. Fickett ’71 Manuel A. Garcia III J. Charles Gray HC’16 Michael J. Grindstaff ’78 Gerald F. Hilbrich John C. Hitt H’17 Deborah J. Komanski ’79 John F. Lowndes H’19 Rita A. Lowndes H’19 Michael Manglardi ’84 Gerald R. McGratty ’71 Anthony J. Nicholson HC’17 Richard A. Nunis HC’96 Margery Pabst Steinmetz H’20 Roger W. Pynn ’73 Allen Trovillion Al R. Weiss ’76 Nelson Ying Thomas Yochum Honorary Director Joan D. Ruffier

UCF BOARD OF TRUSTEES The UCF Board of Trustees sets policy and serves as the university’s legal owner and final authority responsible for efficient and effective use of resources. The following trustees served through Fiscal Year 2020. A current board roster is available at bot.ucf.edu.

Beverly J. Seay H’18 Chair Alex Martins ’01 Vice Chair Kenneth W. Bradley ’85 Joseph D. Conte Digvijay “Danny” Gaekwad Joseph Harrington

Caryl C. McAlpin ’77 Harold Mills Sabrina La Rosa Michael A. Okaty ’96 John R. Sprouls David M. Walsh William E. Yeargin

> UCF ALUMNI BOARD The Alumni Board formulates and executes strategies and programs that build a culture of service and philanthropy among UCF’s more than 320,000 alumni. The following members served through Fiscal Year 2020. A current board roster is available at ucfalumni.com.

Officers Dan Ward ’92 Chair Matt Assenmacher ’93 Chair-Elect Sara Bernard ’00 Immediate past chair Kyle Simpson ’11, Treasurer Linh Dang ’93 Advocacy Committee Chair Angela Cohen ’98 Engagement Committee Chair Members Michelle Bilsky ’15 Michael Cantrell Dean Caravelis ’02 ’03 MBA Trish Celano ’10MSN Crystal Espinosa Buit ’06 Commander Paul S. Fermo ’92 Carol Hendren ’96 ’99MS Manish Hirapara ’98 Kyle Israel ’08

Allen Lane ’97 JJ Mackle ’00MA Britt Massing ’93 Davia Moss ’93 ’09MPA Al Sarabasa ’85 Alireza Shahnami ’81 ’95MSEE Andrea St. Onge ’99 ’02MA Melissa Tomasso ’94 Ryan Vescio ’02 Woody Walker ’92 ’94MBA Christine Wydra ’93 Ex-Officio Members Alexander Cartwright John D. Euliano Sr. H’18 Danielle Honaker ’10 ’16MA Marley Hughes ’11 Sabrina La Rosa Michael J. Morsberger Anna Tucker ’20 Emeritus Member John C. Hitt H’17

U C F F O U N D AT I O N I N C . 2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO DONORS

12424 Research Parkway, Suite 250 Orlando, Florida 32826-3208 407-882-1220 UCFFoundation.org

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 4031 ORLANDO, FL

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

UCF Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

Staying Together

Thank you to the remarkable community of alumni, friends and partners who persisted in their generosity through this trying year. We don’t know what the future holds, but we believe in our ability as Knights to make it better together.