Fundraising growing at Iowa's universities despite ‘challenging’ economy

Both the University of Iowa and Iowa State University received more grants, contracts and gifts from government, corporate and private sources in the 2014 budget year, despite a 'challenging economic climate' that has more people competing for fewer dollars.

And for the first time both of the state's research institutions are reporting their external funding totals the same way, making the figures comparable, said UI Vice President for Research and Economic Development Daniel Reed.

l UI external funding came in at $515.8 million for the 2014 budget year that ended June 30, up 1.9 percent from $506.3 million in 2013.

•ISU external funding was reported at $368.4 million for the last budget year, up 12.9 percent from its 2013 total of $326.4 million.

The ISU total is the second-highest on record. UI officials said comparing its 2014 figures with past years is difficult because the university is using a new way of reporting.

UI previously based its numbers on research-related funding, including federal, state and private money for research, scholarship, creative and entrepreneurial endeavors. Now UI numbers include all external funding sources, including money accepted by the UI Foundation.

The change increases UI external funding numbers. Last year, for example, UI reported its total external funding for the 2013 budget year at $424 million, less than the $506.3 million it now calculates for 2013 using the new mechanism.

Reed said UI external funding figures now can be accurately compared to ISU numbers. And that could be important after the Board of Regents in June agreed to start using new enrollment and performance metrics to allocate state appropriations in 2016, including one that ties 5 percent of the money to sponsored research.

UI President Sally Mason said the Board of Regents still is working to determine how each metric will be defined, but the new reporting mechanism will make the university more flexible.

'We will see where the regents end up,' Mason said. 'But we can now do it both ways.'

Iowa State reports that its external funding numbers include items such as grants, contracts, gifts and cooperative agreements from federal, state and local government sources, corporations, foundations and other universities.

The money supports things like research, programming, equipment, buildings and activities.

The University of Northern Iowa, which is not considered a research institution, reports its external funding numbers with slightly different categories than UI and ISU, said Scott Ketelsen, UNI director of university relations. Ketelsen said the UNI foundation is working on its annual external funding report, but it won't be released for another few weeks.

When looking only at funding from federal agencies, UI reported $250.1 million for 2014, and ISU reported $210.1 million. Both of those totals were up over the previous year — 1.5 percent for UI and 21.6 percent for ISU.

'As we anticipated, external funding has rebounded well from last year's federal budget sequester impact,' ISU President Steven Leath said in a news release. 'We are especially pleased that funding from federal sources was up substantially, by 21.6 percent over last year's federal total.'

ISU's largest source of federal funding in the most recent budget year was the U.S. Department of Energy, at $59.7 million. Its second- and third-highest sources were the U.S. Department of Agriculture at $57.9 million and the National Science Foundation at $31.6 million.

UI saw some of its larger funding gains in 2014 from industry and corporate entities, at $10.2 million more than in 2013, and from the National Science Foundation at $2.1 million more and the U.S. Department of Transportation at $1.1 million more.