Alumni, parents and friends, along with corporations and private foundations, contributed $63.7 million to UC Davis last fiscal year, providing a 22 percent increase over contributions during 1998, according to a report released yesterday. The increase in private support, gained from a jump in corporate giving and the impact of several special campus campaigns, establishes a new high-water mark for voluntary private support of the campus. According to UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, the private gifts and research awards are important to all areas of the campus. "Our donors have a growing awareness of how effective focused support for public higher education can be, and their gifts have impact on every aspect of the UC Davis mission," he said. "The faculty, students and staff can be extremely grateful for the generosity of these donors and their investment in the future strength of this institution." For the 1999 fiscal year, the campus received 33,906 gifts amounting to $63,662,000 from all private sources. Some 3,200 corporate donors provided more than $25 million (40 percent) of the total, an increase in corporate support for the year of 29 percent. More than 22,000 alumni and other individuals accounted for 18 percent of the dollar total, while contributions from foundations and all other organizations made up 39 percent of the total and included a single gift of more than $10 million. The campus received a record $30 million for research support, which represents 47 percent of the year's gift total. The UC Davis Health System raised $9.97 million in research funding during the fiscal year, followed by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with $7.98 million. (The campus also received millions of dollars in private contracts and grants for research that are administered by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, as reported in the Oct. 1 Dateline.) Also, donors added six permanent endowments for faculty chairs and professorships in engineering, agriculture, medicine, and biological science. These new faculty endowments included a $1 million gift from the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation in honor of Edward Teller, who helped found the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and the Department of Applied Science at UC Davis. Several on-going special campaigns helped boost fund raising for the year, according to the report. By June 30, the Center for the Arts campaign had raised $9.2 million, much of it in 1998-99. The drive to fund an environmental research center at Lake Tahoe had amassed $5.6 million through three years of campaigning. The School of Veterinary Medicine, which is conducting a $50 million capital campaign as part of its 50-year anniversary celebration, enjoyed the greatest total of any college, school or division: $19 million in private commitments for the year. The school's total includes $10.7 million from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation. Other capital campaigns that enjoyed substantial gift support during 1998-99 included the following: M.I.N.D. -- the campaign for the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute (M.I.N.D.) reached $4 million in private commitments to its multiyear campaign. Seed Biotechnology Center -- six leading corporations and a foundation together committed $555,000 toward a $1.5 million goal for this research, education and outreach center in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences -- the college has campaigns for the Jacob Viticulture Facility (with a goal of $2.6 million), the Joe Hendrick, Jr. Western Center for Agricultural Equipment (a $1 million goal) and a waterfowl endowed faculty chair ($1 million goal). UC Davis faculty and staff constituted a significant portion of the gift total, the report shows. Some 540 faculty gave nearly $2.3 million in fiscal 1999. Also, the year saw gifts for endowed faculty positions from two emeriti faculty members and their wives. Jerry Suran, a professor emeritus of management, and his wife, Elsie, established a faculty chair in the Graduate School of Management. Named for the donors, the Suran Chair in Technology Management is the first endowed chair in the history of the management school. Also in 1998-99, retired UC Davis biologist Paul Stumpf and his wife, Ruth, gave the campus its first endowed professorship in the Division of Biological Sciences, creating a permanent fund that will support a distinguished faculty member in plant biochemistry. Campus staff members were equally generous -- with 360 non-faculty employees contributing nearly $265,000 during the year. "The support of our faculty and staff is particularly significant," said Chancellor Vanderhoef, "coming as it does from those who best know the needs and aspirations of our campus." Fund-raising figures for the year show that a number of UC Davis colleges and schools benefited from substantially increased private support in 1998-99. Gifts of $604,567 to the School of Law represent a 129 percent increase over the previous year's fund-raising total, and the Graduate School of Management raised its private support for the year by 144 percent to $813,890. The UC Davis Health Sciences division enjoyed a $3.3 million increase, receiving $13.9 million in private gifts during the year. Even general, unrestricted giving to the campus and its units was up for 1998-99. The UC Davis Annual Fund raised $1,150,900 in gifts and pledges in fiscal '99, an increase of 20 percent. The UC Davis Chancellor's Club, which recognizes donors of at least $1,000 a year in unrestricted support, provided $540,500 in fiscal year 1999 and had 363 contributor members at year's end. Jerald Jahn is the director of communications for the Office of Development.