Kent State announced its highest-ever fundraising year in the university’s history Wednesday. For fiscal year 2017, the university received $38.9 million in private donations.

This marks a 31 percent increase in donations from fiscal year 2016, said Leigh Greenfelder, the assistant vice president of Advancement Communications at Kent State. Last year, the university earned $29 million in support. 

Greenfelder said despite this increase, there was no additional push by the university to raise funds. 

“There was no special campaign,” Greenfelder said. “We have a whole Division of Institutional Advancement to help fund the causes of the university.” 

Of the donations received, about $11.4 million will help fund student scholarships, a university news release said. Greenfelder said hundreds of scholarships would be generated by such a strong fundraising year. 

The contributions are comprised of 20,000 unique donors, Greenfelder said. She said that corporate foundation donations amounted to $9.1 million. 

The largest single contribution came from the estate of Joseph Stevens, a Kent State alumnus who passed away this year, and left $3.1 million to the Stevens Family Scholarship for the College of Business Administration. 

The remaining contributions were comprised of gifts from alumni, friends and corporations, according to the news release.

Kristin Hohman is a general assingment reporter. Contact her at [email protected].