VP for Development's Report

I am thrilled to see how our community’s passion for creating a better world is expressed through the breadth and depth of gifts we receive.

In FY 2023, that generosity added up to $456 million in pledge payments and cash gifts from nearly 100,000 donors. Gifts of every size came together for great impact: 98 percent of those gifts were less than $25,000.

Our donors' investment in areas where Michigan has always led — student experience, scientific discovery, artistic expression and societal challenges — enables us to innovate while still delivering the steady support on which our schools, colleges and units rely.

Earlier this year, the School of Education was renamed the Marsal Family School of Education in recognition of a new $50 million commitment — the largest in school history — and more than $55 million in total gifts by the family of Kathleen and Bryan Marsal and their children, Megan Marsal Kirsch and Michael Marsal.

The gift supports a diverse population of teachers, robust partnerships with schools and communities and research in collaboration with education practitioners.

In December 2022, Michigan Medicine announced it would name its new hospital to recognize a $50 million gift from the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation — one of the largest ever to Michigan Medicine — and to honor the Kahns’ dedication to U-M and the public good.

Scheduled to open in fall 2025, the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion will include 264 private inpatient rooms capable of converting into intensive care, a top-notch neurosciences center and specialty services for cardiovascular and thoracic care.

Other gifts in FY 2023 included $2.75 million and $1.5 million to the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning to support access to architecture education and leadership in urban planning, respectively; and $2 million to endow the W.E. Upjohn Peony Garden at Nichols Arboretum.

This is just a small sampling of the many gifts to support a wide variety of causes. We are so grateful for our donors’ confidence in the university’s mission and purpose. That steady support helps uphold U-M’s position among the top universities in the world.

Thank you for your commitment and giving me the opportunity to help advance our mission.

Go Blue!

Thomas A. Baird
Vice President for Development