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A photo rendering shows how the “Court of Philanthropy” is expected to look when it i

With the decline in state funding for higher education in recent years, UCLA has stepped up its fundraising efforts and received a record amount of donations.

And as the university’s landmark fundraising campaign approaches completion, UCLA officials have decided the time is ripe to publicly thank some of the university’s biggest donors in a way they hope will inspire others.

Campaign UCLA, a fundraising program that has raised nearly $3 billion since it began in 1995, will end in April. In connection with its completion, the university plans to unveil a “Court of Philanthropy” at the base of Janss steps in Wilson Plaza.

The court has been under construction since late October. About $1 million has been allocated for the project, said Phil Hampton, a UCLA spokesman.

When the project is completed, it will consist of a crescent-shaped, 4,000-square-foot extension of the brick and concrete design of Wilson Plaza. It will be bordered by a sloped, 32-inch-high limestone wall where the names of more than 600 donors will be engraved.

The wall will recognize donors who have given $1 million or more to UCLA in their lifetimes.

As of Sunday, Campaign UCLA had raised $2,947,277,071, according to its Web site.

Over 200,000 donors have contributed to the campaign since July 1995, said Rhea Turteltaub, associate vice chancellor in charge of development.

The current Campaign UCLA is the second such effort in UCLA history. A fundraising drive called “The UCLA Campaign” concluded in 1988 after raising $373 million, according to the UCLA History Project.

Though several donors reached the $1 million mark during the latest version of Campaign UCLA, the wall of the Court of Philanthropy will include names of all those whose donations have reached this level at any point in UCLA’s history.

Philanthropic donations to UCLA have increased markedly in the last decade.

Between 1997 and 2005, the university’s operating budget has grown from $2.2 billion to $3.5 billion, while state funding has dropped from 20.7 percent of the university’s budget to 15 percent. Donations account for part of the budget’s increase, Hampton said.

Especially during periods of reduced state funding, philanthropic donations bolster the university’s ability to strive for excellence by giving out scholarships and providing seed money for scientific projects so they can later secure state or federal funding, Turteltaub said.

“It doesn’t replace state money but it allows us to operate at a level of excellence that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise,” she said, adding that she hopes the public recognition will inspire more giving.

Though donors have long been recognized in honor rolls and inside buildings, the Court of Philanthropy will mark the first time so many donors have been honored in an outdoor setting, Turteltaub said.

But some of the university’s top philanthropists have long been recognized by the buildings that are named after them.

Kerckhoff Hall, for example, which was dedicated as a student union in 1931, is named for Louise Kerckhoff, whose gift of $715,000 financed the building, according to a timeline compiled by the UCLA History Project. In 2001, UCLA’s medical school was renamed the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, after the entertainment magnate who donated $200 million to the school.

Many UCLA landmarks have been named after distinguished graduates.

Bunche Hall, for example, is named for Ralph Bunche, who graduated from UCLA in 1927 and won a Nobel Prize in 1950 for negotiating a Middle East peace accord.