25 Oct WARF announces annual gift, largest in foundation’s history
Bascom Hall
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation today announced a total of $216.8 million in support for the University of Wisconsin-Madison research enterprise during the 2021-22 academic year.
The figure is WARF’s largest annual investment in UW-Madison-based research and education in the foundation’s history.
“For the past 19 months the UW-Madison community has risen to the challenge of a global pandemic without ever giving ground in its mission to teach and discover,” says WARF’s CEO Erik Iverson. “We also know our greatest challenges and opportunities lie ahead. WARF is pleased to be part of the solution through our annual grant, additional facility and pandemic support and our everyday work advancing Badger inventions to market.”
In addition to its traditional base grant, which this year amounts to $63.6 million, WARF announced several other areas of supplement grants, most notably $55 million to support new research buildings and $40 million for pandemic support. The topline number of $216.8 million also includes $11.4 million in grants to the Morgridge Institute for Research and $35 million in the form of operational and functional support provided by WARF to the university.
“WARF was founded over nine decades ago by Professor Harry Steenbock to protect and commercialize inventions from UW-Madison,” says James Berbee, chair of the WARF Board of Trustees. “With WARF’s largest grant in history this year, we see the importance of his legacy to the university itself.”
The traditional $63.6 million base grant includes $13 million for faculty recruitment and retention, $2.5 million for faculty fellowships and $11.5 million for graduate student support.