The Missouri State University Foundation is on a roll, raising more than $20 million for the seventh year in a row and setting a new annual record.

The foundation raised nearly $36 million during the fiscal year that ended June 30, soaring past the previous record of $32 million two years earlier.

In all, nearly 20,000 donors gave gifts during the past 12 months.

“We celebrate this momentous achievement with the thousands of alumni and friends who care about the university,” said Brent Dunn, executive director of the MSU Foundation, in a news release. “Their giving has and will continue to touch many lives in a positive way.”

In a follow-up interview, Dunn said the foundation formed 43 years ago is hitting its stride. In the first year, it raised less than $400,000 and did not exceed $10 million in annual gifts until 2006.

“It does take time but I think people are seeing the impact of private support and that there is a major impact on campus,” he said. “That does help the momentum.”

Dunn said funds raised by the foundation were initially viewed as “icing on the cake” but now private giving has become more integral to the entire campus, from supporting students to building or upgrading facilities.

For example, this year private giving fueled more than $4 million in student aid.

“Private support is part of everything on campus,” he said.

Much of the gifts this past year went toward student scholarship and programs, faculty support and capital projects such as the Judith Enyeart Reynolds Center for Arts and Humanities, Roy Blunt Hall, Smart University Advancement Center and the Wulff-Risner Agriculture Science Center, which is on the West Plains campus.

Of the steady increase in giving, Dunn said the university’s alumni base has grown and its profile has grown. He said the foundation has also become better at engaging graduates and supporters.

More: New pact outlines roles, responsibilities of Missouri State and MSU Foundation

This year also marked a change in the relationship between the university and the MSU Foundation, which sold its longtime home in downtown Springfield to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.

The nonprofit will soon break ground on the Clifton M. Smart University Advancement Center — named for the newly retired 11th university president — and will be owned by Missouri State and primarily used by the separate MSU Foundation. It will be located on the main Springfield campus.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State Foundation sets new annual fundraising record