The people who love the University of Hawaii enough to put their money where their hearts are know exactly how they want their dollars spent.

More of them want to help UH students directly.

Joseph Rothstein and his wife, Ann Yoklavich, have donated money for student scholarships at Windward Community College the last three years even though they have no direct connection to Windward.

"You can have a university without a building," Rothstein explained. "What you can’t have is a university without students."

The private, nonprofit University of Hawaii Foundation raised $66.9 million during the last fiscal year, the UH Foundation announced last week. While the foundation fell short of the record $70.9 million set in 2007, the fiscal year before the global recession, last year’s donations added up to a 43 percent increase from the year before, giving hope to struggling nonprofit organizations across the islands.

For the most part, people who donated believe their money is best spent directly on UH students across the 10-campus system.

The largest designation was for "student aid" for a total of $16.99 million, followed by "faculty and academic support" at $11.6 million and "property, buildings & equipment" at $10.5 million.

About 99 percent of all UH Foundation donors know exactly how they want their money spent, said Greg Willems, the UH Foundation’s vice president for development.

"It’s very, very rare that we receive gifts where they just don’t designate at all," Willems said.

So UH Foundation officials have established about 5,000 separate accounts earmarked according to donors’ desires to help pay for all sorts of specific UH scholarships, programs and building improvements.

"The most prevalent are scholarships across the whole spectrum of the university," Willems said. "On a weekly basis we have community members who want to establish a scholarship for a particular discipline. That’s very common."

Rob and Sharmaine Swisher were both "nontraditional students" who met later in life at Leeward Community College in 1991.

Over pizza in the parking lot one day, they promised each other to one day give back to Leeward once they had the means.

AFTER FOUNDING the North Star Scientific Corp., which specializes in high-powered radar and communications for the Department of Defense, the Swishers have provided scholarships over the last three years that helped 26 Leeward Community College students.

The students have to be interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, carry a 3.0 grade-point average and need help paying for school. Preference for the Swishers’ scholarships go to students who are the first in their families to attend college.

"Rob and I were both nontraditional students, and a lot of time you have to hold down a job at the same time you’re going to school," Sharmaine said. "It took me 10 years to get that bachelor’s degree."

Dr. Kuhio Asam, a child psychiatrist and chairman of the UH Foundation board, and his wife, Claire Asam, have been donating for scholarships to help Native Hawaiian students studying early childhood education.

"A number have been single parents and nontraditional students," Kuhio Asam said. "Some have been raising children and grandchildren. My wife and I both see the kinds of donations we make as an investment in our future. The future is the next wave and waves of generations that come. The buildings stand and have names on them. But what’s really important is the people in those building and the knowledge they receive."

Venture capitalist Barry Weinman, a former trustee of the UH Foundation, and his wife, Virginia, met at UH-Manoa’s Hamilton Library in 1962 when she was a student and he was in the Navy.

They went on to establish the Weinman Foundation, which donates to universities and medical centers across the country, including to several programs at the UH Cancer Center and UH John A. Burns School of Medicine.

For the last six years, the Weinman Foundation has provided $250,000 each year to help UH medical students who come from Hawaii’s public schools and underrepresented communities in the islands.

So far, 10 UH medical students have been helped and have gone on to major medical centers, such as Cedars-Sinai, Barry Weinman said.

He said he hopes they return to Hawaii after their residencies and work in communities that need more doctors.

Even if they don’t, Weinman said, the experience of helping students become doctors "has provided for a very warm set of feelings. To see them make the prog­ress is really terrific."

Rothstein and Yoklavich began donating for Windward scholarships through the UH Foundation after Rothstein was invited to a student awards ceremony by his friends Paul and Jane Field, who already were donating to Windward student scholarships.

"I heard from these students who had received their scholarships," Rothstein said. "It was heartwarming. It was inspiring to hear what some of these folks have overcome and what they’ve achieved. I thought, ‘I’ve got to support this.’ It just does my heart good to see how dedicated all these folks are and what these students are achieving."

He called his donations "modest" — "in the thousands, not the tens of thousands."

But all of those contributions from "modest" donors like Rothstein and Yoklavich add up to make a big difference, Rothstein said.

While other donors specify their money go directly to UH buildings, faculty research and other programs that deserve financial help, Rothstein believes his money is best spent on students.

"My direction doesn’t come from what other people are doing," he said. "I follow my heart. While it’s a small amount, a couple of thousands dollars can make a dramatic difference to a community college student."