UF officials are working to cope with the loss of two state-funded gift matching programs eliminated by the Florida Legislature in the most recent state budget.
More than $75 million in state money, which would have matched donor contributions to UF through the Alec P. Courtelis Facilities Enhancement Challenge Grant Program and the University Major Gifts Program, now hangs in the balance, according to UF officials.
The donor contributions were made a time when the state's policy was to match the funds.
Ed Poppell, UF vice president of business affairs, said two large projects -the expansion of the Harn Museum of Art and the construction of William R. Hough Hall -were eligible for about $10 million each in Courtelis grants, which help fund construction projects.
As a result of the Legislature's decision, UF will only receive about $160,000 this year of the $28 million requested from the program, Poppell said.
Leslie Bram, chief operating officer of the UF Foundation, said the university is looking for other ways to make up for the loss of funding or to ensure the matching gifts will be made up by the Legislature in the future so that the projects can continue as planned.
"At this point it's completely in limbo," Bram said. "But the university's plan is to go forward."
Bram said UF currently has $47.5 million in pending requests from the University Major Gifts Program.
It provides money for academic programs, including scholarships, professorships and research funds.
The program fully matches any grant of over $2 million and percentages of donations over $100,000 on a sliding scale.
Matt Fajack, UF's chief financial officer, said losing matching funds could also make potential donors wary when it comes to giving money to university endowments in the future.
Fajack said he believes that the Legislature could catch up on gift-matching in the future, something it has done in past years.
"They haven't said they'll never give it to us," he said.
"They could come back at any time and make up for matches they missed."
