Donors gave more than $228 million to the University of Cincinnati and UC Health over the past year – a record-setting total that will expand scholarships, upgrade medical facilities and support students and patients across Southwest Ohio.
The gifts, raised between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, mark the largest annual fundraising haul in university history. The UC Foundation, a nonprofit that connects alumni, corporations and community partners to UC and UC Health priorities, announced the milestone Tuesday.
“Bearcats have a deep sense of personal connection and responsibility to their beloved university,” said UC President Neville Pinto. “I am incredibly appreciative to our donors who make an enormous difference in the lives of our students, faculty and staff. Their generosity brings our university’s bold vision to life.”
Investments in campus, students, Cincinnati
Philanthropy supported a wide range of needs – from new scholarships and emergency grants to neuroscience research and athletics facilities.
A $4 million gift from Jagtar “Jay” Chaudhry and P. Jyoti Chaudhry, for instance, will fully fund the UC education of about 150 first-generation, Pell-eligible students beginning this fall. The Chaudhry Family Scholarship Fund will support students in UC’s Gen-1 1MPACT House, a nationally recognized living-learning community.
Another anonymous $5 million gift will expand scholarships, paid internships and career services at UC Blue Ash and UC Clermont colleges. And a $5 million contribution from the Farmer Family Foundation will help renovate the neuroscience floor and neuro-ICU at UC Medical Center, while launching a neuroscience nurse training program with the UC College of Nursing.
In athletics, donors including Larry and Rhonda Sheakley led support for the $134 million Sheakley Indoor Practice Facility and Sheakley Athletics Performance Center, expected to be one of the premier college training complexes in the country.
“Philanthropy changes lives, and our partnership with donors is integral to our community’s success,” said Leigh Fox, chair of the UC Foundation Board of Trustees. “Across Cincinnati and around the globe, UC alumni and friends reaffirmed their commitment to the missions of higher education and health care.”
It takes a UC village
Donors also contributed more than $50.6 million in scholarship gifts, including more than $8 million from corporate and foundation partners. UC added 133 new scholarship funds and secured nearly $64 million in new estate gifts.
In April, the university’s eighth annual Day of Giving brought in $1 million from more than 2,700 gifts, with nearly $410,000 going to student scholarships and hundreds more supporting the Bearcats Pantry, emergency aid and other student resources, per the UC Foundation.
At the UC Carl H. Lindner College of Business, a separate anonymous gift will allow the university to expand financial literacy education campus-wide.
“The partnership of our donors is crucial to our success,” said Cory Shaw, president and CEO of UC Health. “Their support fuels world-class care, groundbreaking research and a healthier future for the entire Greater Cincinnati community.”
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