Concerns about job losses triggered by the pending budget crisis became a reality Monday for 34 UW employees.

Employees in the University Advancement department, which contains the UW’s fundraising offices and oversees alumni-relations activities, woke up to face the elimination of 70 permanent positions, 36 of which were vacant. The unit also experienced the reduction of 16 positions to part-time.

“They are performers who have done a good job,” said Greg Sheridan, the UW’s associate vice president of constituency programs, referring to those dismissed. “No one chose this, that this was the time or point … it’s a product of what’s going on around the world.”

The layoffs were spurred by a 25 percent decline in the value of the UW’s Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF), the primary financier of University Advancement, over the past year.

The endowment fund is the “bread and butter of the institution,” Sheridan said. Donor gifts to the fund are invested in student scholarships, professorships and a variety of other programs.

The CEF lost more than $550 million in the last year, after Campaign UW, an eight-year fundraising campaign, raised $2.7 billion. For the first time in the university’s history, the decline of the fund is contributing directly to job cuts.

“The way the stock market goes is the way the university’s investment portfolio goes,” said Norm Arkans, associate vice president of media relations and communications at the UW.

These layoffs are the first to occur since Gov. Gregoire announced the proposed 2009-2011 biennial budget, though UW Technology dismissed 66 employees last summer prior to the economic crisis. However, University Advancement’s personnel are salaried by private dollars rather than state appropriations.

When the state Legislature finalizes a decision on the budget in April, jobs will be cut based on state funding, Arkans said.

“We represent one segment of the university,” Sheridan said, explaining that the cuts will begin to take place on a small scale. “There’s another shoe that’s going to drop within the following months.”

Previous estimates show that a total of 600 to 800 positions may be cut.

It is difficult to predict the impact this will have on fundraising, though Arkans said the staff cuts will affect marketing progress, reduce staff resources and take longer for University Advancement to process gifts.

The cutbacks, effective May 1, will ultimately save University Advancement $6 million out of an annual budget of $30 million.

“Sadly, this is the first wave of layoffs in the current economic climate that the university faces,” wrote UW President Mark Emmert in a statement issued March 2. “But it is not likely to be the last.”

Reach contributing writer Rachel Solomon at development@dailyuw.com.