Harvard Fund-Raising Campaign Sets Record But Columbia Is Fast Catching Up

Harvard University has announced that its capital campaign has raised $2.33-billion —

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Billion-Dollar Campaign Update

setting a record for money raised by a single institution in a single campaign.

However, the campaign, which will continue until December 31, may not remain the most successful for long. As of July 31, Columbia University had garnered $2.29-billion, exceeding its $2.2-billion goal, according to Derek Bellin, a top-ranking fund raiser there.

The university will continue the fund drive to its scheduled conclusion in December 2000.

Of the money raised in Harvard’s “University Campaign,” which began in May 1994, $1-billion went to the institution’s endowment, which is now worth $14.4-billion.

More than $1-billion of the campaign funds will be used to strengthen Harvard’s school of arts and sciences, which contains the undergraduate college and its Ph.D. programs in the liberal arts. The remainder is to be distributed among its eight other schools and an operating fund.

Before Harvard and Columbia broke the $2-billion mark in their campaigns, Yale University had held the nation’s most successful campaign, raising $1.7-billion in a campaign completed in 1997.

Harvard is not the only university announcing big campaign results this month. Ohio State University announced that it had passed the billion-dollar mark on September 30, meeting its goal nine months ahead of schedule. The university will continue its campaign until June 30, 2000.

The Johns Hopkins University will also keep its drive going until June 2000, even though the university eclipsed its $1.2-billion goal in August (The Chronicle, August 26). The tally stands at $1.3-billion to date.

Five universities — Cornell, Stanford, and New York, as well as the Universities of Michigan and Pennsylvania — also have successfully completed capital campaigns with billion-dollar goals.

In addition, the United Jewish Appeal–Federation of New York has completed a campaign that raised more than $1-billion.