The Center for the Book writes with true joy and deep gratitude to announce the successful end to UICB 2021, the challenge grant to raise $2.5 million by December 31, 2021. We hit the marks and met the match! This means the Windgate Charitable Foundation has donated $2.5 million as an endowment fund to the UICB. Totaling $5 million, the funds will be dedicated to supporting graduate students, hiring faculty, and creating professional opportunities for UICB artists and scholars.

First and foremost, we are grateful to the Windgate Foundation for their longtime belief in us and for this extraordinary gift. Our partners on campus have been steadfast in their work and their solidarity as we publicized and promoted the challenge over the last twenty months. But we are most honored by all of you who joined this initiative, with gifts big and small and everywhere in between. Your keen interest and good cheer express everything we enjoy about working at the UICB: its community ethos, its lively engagement, and its forward motion.

We look forward to keeping you posted on developments at the UICB and thank you again for your patience and generosity over the last two years!