AN INNOVATION PIONEER
UConn Foundation 2018 Annual Report
UConn’s doors are the threshold for innovation that enhances culture, advances science, improves human health, and makes the world a better place.
FISCAL 2018 (JULY 1, 2017 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2018)
$46M
Academic programs
$3.8M
Capital improvement projects
$22.3M
Scholarships and fellowships
$2.8M
Faculty
$7.5M
Research
Our mission is to strengthen UConn one relationship at a time. One of the most important ways we do that is by connecting alumni to each other and to the University. The number of alumni social, networking, and community service events increased by nearly 100 this year to 300 total events across the country.
pounds of food sorted at shelters and food banks (equivalent of 19,759 meals)
pounds of trash removed from parks, town greens, and other community spaces
miles of trails and beachfront cleaned
blankets made for patients at the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at UConn Health
dog toys made, 30 cages cleaned, and 50 dogs walked at animal shelters
Momentum for the total University endowment continues to build thanks to the generosity and loyalty of UConn Nation. The market value rose $25.8 million (6 percent) to $447.7 million. The endowment provides support in perpetuity for priorities such as scholarships and fellowships for students, faculty, academic programs across the entire University, and life-saving patient care programs at UConn Health.
Since March 2009, the total University endowment has increased by $201.9 million (82.2 percent). Moreover, the portfolio has had positive returns eight out of the last nine years, with an annualized return of 7.12 percent during that period.
Solid investment returns for the 2018 fiscal year resulted in a very positive impact on the financial results of the UConn Foundation for the year. The Foundation’s long-term investment portfolio returned 7.65 percent during the year accounting for the lion’s share of the growth in the Foundation’s total assets in fiscal 2018.
1,052 Members
Recognizes donors with lifetime giving of $100,000+
4,279 Members
Recognizes donors who give $1,000+ annually ($500+ for graduates of the last decade)
6,601 Members
Recognizes donors who give for five or more consecutive years
506 Members
Recognizes donors who include the UConn Foundation in their wills or other planned gifts
UConn Innovation
It is my honor to present the 2018 Annual Report. On behalf of the UConn Foundation Board of Directors, thank you for supporting UConn and the incredible innovation of its pioneering faculty and students.
Because of your generosity, we have a lot to celebrate. This was the most successful year for fundraising in the UConn Foundation’s 54-year history, raising $82.4 million. It was another terrific year for increasing student support through the Transform Lives scholarship and fellowship initiative. The Foundation raised $22.3 million in scholarships and fellowships, bringing the total for Transform Lives to more than $100 million since the initiative launched in 2013.
We kicked off our exciting new Giving Day, encouraging alumni and friends to rally support for UConn. In 36 hours, an impressive 2,500 donors made a gift. Giving Day also helped attract new supporters and increase this year’s donor count—the first year-over-year increase in the number of donors since 2013. In total, 22,260 alumni and friends made gifts this year.
We also celebrated a milestone with the opening of the Peter J. Werth Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Peter J. Werth Residence Tower, supported by a $22.5 million gift—the second largest donation in the Foundation’s history—from Peter J. Werth.
Sadly, we marked the passing of Ray Neag ’56, ’01H. Through their philanthropy and advocacy, Carole and Ray Neag—UConn’s most generous donors—have fueled dramatic leaps forward in innovation at the Neag School of Education and the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center over the past two decades.
In the pages ahead, you will find highlights of remarkable innovation across the entire University—in STEM, health care, and education—made possible by the generosity and loyalty of UConn Nation.
Sincerely,
Daniel Toscano ’87 (BUS)
Chair, UConn Foundation Board of Directors
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS IMPROVE PATIENT SAFETY
Interdisciplinary research and development are the hallmarks of innovation. Across UConn, faculty encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration, and it’s emboldening ambitious students. The new Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is designed to support graduate students like Thomas Cotton ’17 (ENG) ’18 MS and Daniel Yasoshima ’17 (ENG), ’18 MS, who are getting ready to file their first utility patent.
During their undergraduate biomedical engineering program at the School of Engineering, Cotton and Yasoshima built a device to improve communications—and patient safety—in health care settings for their senior capstone project. The YouCOMM hands-free device sends data instantly to health care staff and has the capacity to prioritize patients based on critical needs. Since Cotton and Yasoshima started graduate school in 2017, they have continued refining their design with guidance from Assistant Professor-in-Residence Patrick Kumavor ’08 Ph.D., ’12 MS and looking for funding.
The students have raised more than $35,000 in extramural funding from prestigious awards, including Innovation Quest at UConn, which is supported by gifts to the UConn Foundation, and the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UConn.
Cotton and Yasoshima were both inspired by a drive to improve patient safety. Cotton’s grandmother nearly died after falling in an assisted living community and waiting nearly 36 hours before she was discovered.
“If the YouCOMM Bed M8 we designed had been present in the room, even just sitting in a corner, my grandmother could have used its voice activation to call for help within minutes,” says Cotton.
During the second phase of development, Cotton and Yasoshima expanded their team to include several undergraduate students across disciplines who each worked on critical pieces of the puzzle: Jack Casey (biomedical engineering), Killian Green (computer science engineering), Ming Liu (biomedical engineering and computer science engineering), Jaren Koh (mathematics), Samantha Marquardt (nursing) and Amy Wang (nursing).
“Our team has to take calculated risks in order to push forward,” says Yasoshima. “We’ve faced challenges and learned so much. We have learned that listening is a gift and no questions should be kept silent. It’s led our team to make smarter decisions as we move into the second phase of development.”
They are now looking forward to clinical trials within the next year at John Dempsey Hospital at UConn Health in Farmington, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, and Wilton Meadows Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Wilton. The students partnered with the UConn Law Clinic to file for a provisional patent in early 2018 and are working with Murtha Cullina LLP to file a utility patent. Their new company—with Kumavor onboard as chief technology officer—was recently accepted into the UConn Technology Incubation Program for business startups.
“Our impact is multiplicative. When you help one student entrepreneur, and that student then creates five jobs, then those people go out and build a better world,” says David Noble, director of the Werth Institute and assistant professor-in-residence in the Department of Management at the School of Business.
The Werth Institute is supported by a $22.5 million gift from Peter J. Werth Jr., who didn’t attend UConn but considers himself a Husky at heart. Werth founded and built ChemWerth Inc. into a global leader in generic drug development and supply, lowing the cost of pharmaceuticals. His commitment, announced in December 2017, is the second largest in UConn’s history.
“It certainly has been a challenge taking this device that Dan and I conceived of one late night sitting in the E2 building lab into a reality,” says Cotton. “The mentorship and support we have received from the University has been extraordinary. To say a culture conducive to entrepreneurial ventures is strong at UConn would be a gross understatement.”
PIONEERING A CURE FOR CHILDREN WITH LIVER DISEASE
David Weinstein, MD, MMSc, professor of pediatrics, is leading the world’s first clinical trial of gene therapy to treat glycogen storage disease (GSD) type 1a, a liver disease that affects 1 in 100,000 people worldwide.
Imagine you have to give your child a formula drink of cornstarch every two to four hours. If you miss one dose, your child could die. That’s the reality for parents of children with GSD.
“Even to this day, even with all the advances in treatment, children are dying because their parents have overslept,” says Weinstein. Philanthropic gifts from patients’ families have helped support Weinstein’s research.
Healthy livers process sugar and release it into the bloodstream when it’s needed. With GSD, the liver fails to break down sugar, which causes the blood sugar levels to fall. The cornstarch regimen, discovered in the 1970s, makes survival possible, but parents have to monitor blood sugar levels and administer the cornstarch formula around the clock.
The clinical trial, led by UConn Health, could revolutionize treatment and vastly improve the quality of life for patients and their families.
“What gene therapy is basically delivering is a new copy of the gene to the liver,” says Weinstein. “We think this will be like a vaccine.”
The trial is being funded largely by corporate support, including a commitment from Ultragenyx.
In addition to benefiting GSD patients, Weinstein notes that momentum from the clinical trial could lead to groundbreaking advances for other types of liver disease as well: “There are more than 400 genetic diseases of the liver. And we hope that the experience learned from glycogen storage disease, and showing that it works, will then be able to help millions of people with more common disorders.”
REMEMBERING A VISIONARY: RAY NEAG’S LEGACY AT UCONN
The UConn community gathered at UConn Health in September 2018 for a celebration in remembrance of Ray Neag ’56 (CLAS), ’01H (1931–2018). Through Carole and Ray Neag’s philanthropy and close relationship with faculty and administrators across the University, they established a profound legacy of generosity, alumni involvement in the life of the University, and inspiration to others. The lasting impact of their gifts and engagement have helped shape UConn’s future.
“When I remember Ray, I think of his vision and passion for innovation and discovery,” said President Susan Herbst. “Through Ray and Carole’s advocacy and philanthropy, they transformed the Neag School of Education and UConn Health and helped elevate UConn to where it is today among the top 25 public research universities nationwide. We are grateful for the incredible role the Neags have played in UConn’s history.”
In 1999, after making his first major gift to name a chair in gifted education only three years earlier, Neag gave the largest single gift in UConn’s history and, at that time, the largest gift ever to a school of education in the country.
“Ray Neag understood the importance of innovation in education and the profound level of positive change it can bring to the world,” said Gladis Kersaint, dean of the Neag School. “Carole and Ray’s continued generosity to the School was nothing short of transformative. Their giving has truly made the Neag School what it is today. In the years to come, generations of students, teachers, administrators, and families will continue to benefit from the Neags’ extraordinary support.”
At UConn Health, their extraordinary level of philanthropy has launched advances in patient care, research, and academics across the health sciences.
“Ray Neag’s passion for innovating research, patient care, and medical education inspired all of us. Carole and Ray’s generous support for the cancer and cardiology programs, diagnostic imaging, dermatology, and ophthalmology makes a difference in the lives of patients every day. We are profoundly grateful for Ray and Carole’s legacy of encouraging ingenuity and pathbreaking advances that have the power to redefine medicine,” said Dr. Bruce T. Liang, dean of the School of Medicine and the Ray Neag Distinguished Chair in Vascular Biology.
The Neags remain the most generous donors in UConn’s history since its founding in 1881.
FIRED UP FOR SCIENCE SALON JUNIOR
The UConn Science Salon series, which kicked off in 2015, has brought the public together with leading faculty and industry experts for fascinating discussions at the intersection of science and culture. After taking on such topics as climate change, 3-D printing human organs, and Connecticut’s seaweed industry, we launched the first-ever Science Salon Junior to a sold-out crowd of 5- to 12-year-old children.
“The young scientists have an unbounded curiosity that is infectious,” said Mark Peczuh, associate professor and head of the Department of Chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
UConn students and faculty led kid-friendly STEM experiments—like making ice cream, using chemicals to make light, and creating a brass coating on pennies using a blow torch.
“It’s a joy to work with kids who are excited to do science simply for the fun of it,” said Clyde Cady, assistant professor-in-residence in the Department of Chemistry.
Dennis D’Amico, assistant professor in the Animal Science Department, led ice cream manufacturing. He added, “Science Salon Junior was unique in that I had never had the opportunity to expose children of that age group to scientific concepts. It was gratifying seeing the joy on the kids’ faces when they learned something new about things they see every day.”
2018 Financial Statement
Prepared by Gerald J. Ganz, Jr., MBA, CPA, CGMA, Senior Vice President of Finance and AdministrationSolid investment returns had a very positive impact on the financial results of the University of Connecticut Foundation for the 2018 fiscal year. The Foundation’s long-term investment portfolio returned 7.65 percent during the year, accounting for the lion’s share of the growth in the Foundation’s total assets in fiscal 2018.The Foundation’s Statement of Financial Position reflects an increase of nearly $57 million in total assets during the year—due primarily ($42.5 million) to the growth experienced by the long-term portfolio. Other investments increased as well with short-term (operating) investments increasing by $21.4 million and funds held in trust by others growing by almost $5.0 million. Decreases in cash and cash equivalents ($7.0 million) and pledges receivable ($3.6 million) partially offset the gains in the investment line items to provide the net increase to total assets of $57 million noted above. Temporarily restricted net assets ($24.8 million) and permanently restricted net assets ($33.6 million) saw significant increases as a result of the growth in total assets experienced during the year.
The Statement of Activities and Changes in Net Assets also shows the positive effects of the long-term investment portfolio’s performance, reflecting an increase in net assets of $58.9 million for fiscal 2018. Total revenues were $110.0 million for the year, representing an increase of $16.8 million compared to the prior year. This was due primarily to an increase of nearly $30 million in contributions, mostly resulting from the Foundation assuming responsibility for the investment and management of the UConn Law School Foundation’s endowment and other charitable funds. That increase, though, was partially offset by a $12.7 million decrease in net investment return from $45.7 million during fiscal 2017 to $32.9 million this year.
Total expenses increased as well during fiscal 2018, but by a modest $2.6 million. Program support provided to the University increased by $800,000, while expenses for Foundation operations increased by $1.8 million.
The Foundation’s long-term portfolio now totals $408.6 million and has experienced positive returns in eight of the last nine fiscal years. UConn’s total endowment, which includes the Foundation’s endowment as well as endowed gifts made to the University, now stands at $447.7 million.
