An original endowment of $1.6 million establishing the Institute was granted by the Caesar Kleberg Foundation for Wildlife Conservation in January of 1981. The Foundation continues to provide annual financial assistance to the Institute, but funding for research is actively sought by research scientists and students through state, private, and federal grants, research contracts and charitable donations. State funds provide less than 25% of the Institute’s annual operating budget via the parent institution, Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK), with the other 75% percent coming from private granting institutions, private individual donors, and our endowment.

In 1987, the Institute looked toward raising endowed funds which would be maintained by the TAMUK Foundation. About $2 million in endowed monies were secured through this initiative and had grown to nearly $5 million by 1996. The Advisory Board strongly believed that the Institute needed to address the concerns of job security for Institute employees, to provide stability to the Institute infrastructure and its facilities, to guarantee long term, multi-year research efforts, and to provide financial assistance for graduate students. In 2000, the Institute initiated its first Capital Campaign for the purposes of bolstering the endowment, and to create a new Wildlife Research Park. The Institute’s goal for the endowment was to build a fund that would, in perpetuity, advance the good work of the Institute. Such dedicated funds would include, centers of excellence, chairs, professorships, fellowships, scholarships, and restricted research funds. At the close of 2007, the Institute had an endowed Center for Quail Research, three chairs, one professorship, six fellowships, three scholarships, one lectureship, and eight named endowment funds.

But the Advisory Board and science team had a broader vision. They wanted to be able to do tomorrow, what could not be done today. They wanted to design facilities that would fill a vital need for replacing dilapidated captive facilities and providing modern laboratory space and equipment. Under the umbrella of the Stephen J. “Tio” and Janell Kleberg Wildlife Research Park, the Institute now has six structures or facilities that will also advance the work of the Institute. The Capital Campaign has presently succeeded in raising almost $6 million for the creation of the Wildlife Research Park, and added $12 million in endowed funds to our current endowment which exceeds $17 million. The endowments, research park, and research opportunities continue to grow as generous supporters place their trust in the Institute.