Nearly $10 million in gifts sets record

Private gifts to JMU reached a record $9.8 million in cash and pledges in 2002-03 -- an increase of more than $3 million over last year.

"We're very gratified to see totals like these, particularly in a time when fund-raising efforts nationally are struggling," says Thomas Piazze Jr., interim vice president for university advancement. Last year's total in cash and pledges was $6.45 million. The major increase demonstrated "clear evidence of the great loyalty of JMU's alumni, students' parents, friends and corporate partners," Piazze adds.

On a national level, chari-table giving increased only 1 percent in 2002, according to the American Association of Fundraising Counsel.

The JMU increases were fueled by the two largest single gifts in the university's history: a $2.5 million pledge from Charles E. Estes of Richmond and a $2 million gift from Robert and Frances Plecker of Harrisonburg. The Estes gift will go toward construction of JMU's Dorothy Thomasson Estes Center for Theatre and Dance, in honor of Estes' late wife, a member of the Class of 1945. The new center will contain more than 108,490 square feet for classrooms, dance studios, faculty offices, instructional theaters and support spaces.

The Pleckers' gift will fund construction of the $9.8 million Robert and Frances Plecker Athletic Performance Center. Around $7 million in private funds have been raised by JMU for the center, which will be completed in about a year and a half.