Florida A&M University is seeing a spike in fundraising revenue.
The university is more than halfway to its goal for the current fiscal year, and the money comes as the school weighs salary increases for its faculty.
FAMU has raised $2.8 million since President Elmira Mangum arrived on the job in April. That's in addition to another $20 million in the form of research funding. The school set a $5.5 million fundraising goal and as Magnum says, most of the donors have been alumni.
“This represents a 150 percent increase over last year’s total at this time, which was $1.8 million. Our current gifts this fiscal year have been provided by more than 4,000 donors, of which 3,314 are alumni.”
The increased fundraising comes as FAMU looks for ways to increase salaries for faculty. The university ranks among the lowest in the state university system for how much it pays Associate Professors. FAMU is currently at a collective bargaining impasse with its faculty union over salary and Mangum has said private funds can be used to shrink the pay disparities.
Increasing giving to the university as well as boosting faculty pay have been a priority for Mangum. She has said making sure faculty salaries are competitive and funding initiatives like scholarships are a part of her plan to increase FAMU's overall competitiveness.
