Money, money ... gifts to universities up 9.4%

Parents Forum
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<p>Stanford raises $900 millions; Harvard close to $600 million. Not too shabby! However, the biggest surprise might to see the University of Wisconsin-Madison raising $325 million. </p>

<p>*Charitable Contributions to Colleges, Universities Up 9.4 Percent in 2006, Study Finds *</p>

<p>Charitable contributions to colleges and universities in the United States grew by 9.4 percent in 2006, reaching $28 billion, a new study from the New York City-based Council for Aid to Education finds. </p>

<p>The organization's annual Voluntary Support of Education survey, which has tracked giving to higher education for more than fifty years, found that of the $28 billion raised by institutions of higher education in 2006, just over half came directly from individuals, while alumni giving grew by 18.3 percent and foundation giving increased by 1.4 percent.</p>

<p>The list of the top ten fundraising universities in 2006 was topped by Stanford ($911.2 million), followed by Harvard ($594.9 million), Yale ($433.5 million), the University of Pennsylvania ($409.5 million), Cornell ($406.2 million), the University of Southern California ($405.8 million), Johns Hopkins University ($377.3 million), Columbia ($377.3 million), Duke ($332 million), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison ($325.9 million). </p>

<p>"The very strong increase in alumni giving demonstrates that alumni have rallied to the support of their alma maters," said survey director Ann E. Kaplan. "There has been some concern that alumni participation is declining, but in spite of that trend, which is real, alumni continue to be a driving force in the charitable support of higher education institutions."</p>

<p><a href="http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=171100004%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=171100004&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>In news after the article was written, UNC got $150 million last week. $100 million to the Morehead Foundation and another $50 million for the Gilling family. From the press release:</p>

<p>"On Feb. 21, Carolina surged past its $2 billion goal for the Carolina First Campaign — with more than 10 months to spare, and with the single largest commitment in University history pushing the drive into its closing months.</p>

<p>The University also announced that it will carry out a special $100 million drive for faculty support and reiterated the need to meet the campaign’s remaining goals</p>

<p>A $50 million commitment from Dennis and Joan Gillings to support the UNC School of Public Health put Carolina First over the $2 billion mark. Dennis Gillings, a former UNC professor of biostatistics, is the chairman and CEO of Quintiles Transnational Corp., a Research Triangle Park-based pharmaceutical services company. Joan Gillings has had careers in public health, including at the UNC School of Public Health, and commercial real estate. ....</p>

<p>The Gillings’ pledge raised total Carolina First commitments to $2.05 billion. The campaign, which supports UNC’s vision to become the nation’s leading public university, began July 1, 1999, and will end Dec. 31. ……"</p>

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<p>I, for one, will rest easier tonight.</p>

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<p>Oh, so it's a few big money gifts, huh? </p>

<p>I thought it was a few million baby boomers (besides me) spotting their alma maters an extra hundred bucks so Junior has a legacy/development hook.... ;)</p>

5

<p>^^--^^</p>

<p>Not sure about that "development" hook, but the school will nonetheless love you, especially if they are involved in playing "how to manipulate that last column of the USNews Report" game. Just as voting often and early worked in the past, giving small and often is the new game in town.</p>

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<p>I just received my latest alum newsletter with recent contributions listed by amount donated. Dick Cheney and wife are in the "1 million +" category!</p>

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<p>Xiggi, UW has been near the top of the publics list for most years and in the top 10 overall. Last year due to one large gift they were #2 overall at $595 Million. Get with it.</p>

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<p>What happened to Princeton?</p>

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<p>Princeton had something over $200 million. Similar to Harvard and Yale on a per student basis. It's a smaller school.</p>

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<p>omigod yes</p>

<p>I was worried about Princeton too!</p>

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<p>Do you know if Princeton's $200+M constitute a 9.4% increase over last year?</p>

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<p>I just clicked on "Council on Aid For Education" in the article posted and searched a bit.
You might be able to find previous years' numbers.</p>