FAMU fundraising reaches record $8.6M for 2016-2017

Check presentations during the 2016 Florida Classic

Florida A&M University set a new record in fundraising during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. It received a total of $8.6 million.

Interim President Larry Robinson included that statistic in his annual self-evaluation, which the Tallahassee Democrat obtained through a public records request.

FAMU received $6.4 million in 2015-2016 and $5.8 million in 2014-2015.

$5 million of the $5.8 million in 2014-2015 came from a gift by John W. Thompson, an alumnus of the School of Business and Industry (SBI) and chairman of the Microsoft Corporation Board of Directors. That donation was the result of a negotiating process led by SBI Dean Shawnta Friday-Stroud and her team that followed the fundraising model of founding SBI Dean Sybil C. Mobley. The negotiations took years to complete.

Thompson said one of the big reasons for the gift was his desire to give back to the program that Mobley created.

On May 26, 2016, Hershey Company Chairman Jim Nevels visited SBI and discussed his company’s decision to donate $1 million to FAMU to establish the Mobley Hershey Endowed Chair. He said Hershey’s great admiration for Mobley’s work led it to make that contribution to FAMU.