Boosted by a healthy year-end finish in 2007, private giving to colleges and universities remained strong in fiscal 2008, according to a report to be released this morning by the Council for Aid to Education. The past few months have battered hopes that this trend will continue, at least in the next couple of years.
Colleges brought in an estimated $31.6-billion last year, the highest total ever reported in the council’s annual “Voluntary Support of Education” survey, which included 1,052 institutions. That represented a 6.2-percent increase over the previous year, and the fifth straight year of increases.
The outlook for this year is anything but rosy. Based on interviews with top college officials and a study of historical giving data in periods of recessions and stock-market declines, the council predicts giving will decline in 2009 and may erode further in 2010.
Fund raisers said they “hit a wall” early this year, said Ann E. Kaplan, the survey’s director. The number and size of gifts are falling, fund raisers reported, and donors are renegotiating multiyear pledges. Despite that, some institutions are raising their campaign goals.
The council’s predictions mirror recent results of a survey by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, which predicted 5-percent growth for 2008 and a 1.7-percent decline this year. But no one knows how long the recession will go on.
“I think the real question is not will there be a decline but how much of a decline,” said John Lippincott, president of CASE.
Concentration of Support
Support by philanthropic sources rose nearly across the board. Foundations gave $9.1-billion, a 7.1-percent increase. Alumni donations went up 5.2 percent, to $8.7-billion. And nonalumni gave $6.1-billion, or 8.3 percent more.
Alumni and other individual donors contributed just under half the total amount raised. But the percentage of alumni in colleges’ records who made gifts continued to drop, as colleges reported having added more alumni to their databases.
For institutions that reported separate donations for undergraduate alumni, the participation rate went up slightly, to 13.9 percent.
Almost half of the overall 6.2-percent increase—and more than a quarter of the total giving amount—was due to fund raising for the 20 institutions that raised the most money in 2008. When those universities were removed from the data, giving declined 4.2 percent.
About half of the survey respondents reported increases in giving, and half reported declines.
In 2008, many of the institutions that reported double-digit percentage increases were finishing capital campaigns, which meant a large share of the contributions reported for 2008 were received in November and December.
No Stepping Back
The top 20 universities raised a combined $8.41-billion, or 26.6 percent of the total (see tables). Stanford University reported the most private donations, with $785-million, followed by Harvard University ($650.6-million), Columbia University ($495.1-million), and Yale University ($486.6-million).
At the University of California at Los Angeles, which was No. 6 and the top-ranked public institution, donations went up 25 percent, to $456.7-million, helped by several large gifts.
UCLA’s goal for 2009 is $425 million—higher than its 2008 goal of $400-million. So far this year, the university is running about even with the number of major gifts it had at this time last year—but the size of the top gifts has gone down, said Tracie Christensen, associate vice chancellor for development at UCLA. This year’s top gift is $12-million; this time last year, UCLA had received a $20-million and $30-million donation.
The economy is affecting its students, too. Last month, the university started a new fund-raising campaign to raise $500-million for financial aid.
“Now is not the time to step back,” Ms. Christensen said. “Now is the time to redouble our efforts in telling our story, reaching out, and stewardship.”
Indiana University jumped to No. 11 on the survey, with a 46.7-percent increase after receiving three megagifts. The university recently announced it was raising its campaign goal $1.1-billion, a $100-million bump.
Eugene R. Tempel, president of the Indiana University Foundation, said the university is committed to not cutting its fund-raising staff in this difficult economy.
“It’s really important to be in touch with donors, even if gifts are dropping,” he said. “As the economy improves, they’ll be with us.”
