Donors contributed nearly $29 million in the just-completed fiscal year to help strengthen the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The donations in 2015-’16 brought the total raised to $110,776,291 in the Made in Milwaukee, Shaping the World: The Campaign for UWM fundraising effort.

The campaign saw several improvements from the previous year:

• A 26 percent increase in six- and seven-figure gifts, from 35 to 44.
• An 18 percent increase in the total number of gifts, from 10,049 to 11,838.
• A 20 percent increase in giving from UWM staff and faculty, from $701,026 to $839,148.
• A 17 percent increase in the number of donors including UWM in their wills, from 323 to 379.
• A 17 percent increase in the number of donors giving gifts of $1,000 or more, from 782 to 915.

Patricia Borger, UWM’s vice chancellor for development and alumni relations, praised staff and faculty for their donations.

“Thank you for your generous support of this university that is so critical to the culture, health and prosperity of our region,” Borger said.

A few other highlights of the year’s giving include:

• Professor Emerita Ellen K. Murphy and her husband, Timothy Murphy, made provisions in their will to establish a scholarship that will encourage nursing students to experience other countries and cultures.
• Jerome Buff donated a significant collection of rare books, first editions and artists’ books to the special collections at the UWM Libraries. Buff is the father of Rachel Buff and father-in-law of Joe Austin, both of whom are associate professors in UWM’s Department of History.
• Medical device company LumiThera made its first gift to UWM in support of wound healing through research at the College of Health Sciences.