San Diego State collected $71.5 million in private donations in support of The Campaign for SDSU in the 2011-12 fiscal year.

This quantity is part of the $330 million already received to reach the campaign’s goal of $500 million.

This is the first universitywide fundraising program for a campaign and already has more than 38,000 donors who have contributed to aiding SDSU programs, scholarships and other specific areas of donor interest.

This year, SDSU’s academic units raised more than $40 million, which goes to fund university programs, endowed professorships and student scholarships. This is the most money the academic units department has seen in three years.

The academic department also received the most donations this year, according to Media Relations Manager, Gina Jacobs.

SDSU alumnus, Lawrence Peterson, and his wife Madeline, recently donated $2 million to the SDSU College of Business Administration to “support the education that was so much applied” in his life because of the program.

“If you graduate and have the mentality of creating, as well as finding, when searching for a job your options will be better,” Lawrence Peterson said. “The business entrepreneurial skills I learned at SDSU can be applied to any major and will definitelybenefit anyone intending to create a business.”

SDSU received various donations for the campaign this year. For example, the Department of Classics and Humanities, School of Public Affairs and The Joan and Art Barron Veterans Center received $1.2 million to fund endowments and scholarships from Jack McGrory. Sharp HealthCare donated $500,000 to fund three new scholarships in the College of Health and Human Services.

“Now that the school budgets are going down, it is important to support education,” Lawrence Peterson said. “In life, education is sometimes worth much more than the degree, the university teaches us more than what we first assume it will.”

Although most donors give to a specific area of interest and specific program, the Campanile Foundation distributes unspecified gifts by donors where there is need.

As of right now, the university-wide campaign’s priorities are set for endowed professorships professor positions, student scholarships and supporting innovation, according to Jacobs.

Because “The Campaign for SDSU” is not a capital campaign, the majority of the donations go to developing and strengthening campus programs; infrastructure is not part of the university-wide campaign.