Several organizations, people and groups donated gifts to MSU as part of the capital campaign, an effort to raise $1.2 billion by 2007 to grow an MSU endowment.
Bob Thomas, information officer for University Development, said a silent phase of the campaign began in 1999 before it was announced to the public in 2002.
About $736.6 million dollars had been raised at of the end of August, putting the campaign ahead of schedule, Thomas said.
"All of the money is given to specific scholarships or programs," Thomas said. "One program is for endowments which has raised $450 million, and another is for general university support and facilities."
Thomas said development officers from colleges within the university collect the larger donations on an individual basis, and the smaller gifts are collected through fund-raising efforts.
Other gifts including stocks, property and real estate have also been donated to the campaign.
Three organizations made multi-million dollar donations to the campaign.
Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation, donated $3.5 million to the Eli Broad College of Business and the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management to support student scholarships in the MBA program.
The MSU Federal Credit Union donated $2.5 million, which will fund about 130 new scholarships for MSU study abroad programs.
Retired MSU faculty and staff members have donated more than $27 million to the effort.
Amy Davis
