April 4, 2002 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Colleges and universities raised $24.2-billion during the fiscal year that ended in June 2001, according to figures released by the Council for Aid to Education.
The number represents a $1-billion, or 4.3 percent, increase over the previous fiscal year. However, the rate of growth slowed from the previous year, when giving increased by 13.7 percent, according to the council, a research group that is a subsidiary of RAND Corporation.
Private secondary schools that participated in the survey received a total of $1.1-billion last year. Among those schools that answered the survey for the past two years, support was virtually the same, falling 0.2 percent.
At colleges, alumni provided the single largest source of support, contributing $6.8-billion, or 28 percent of the total, roughly the same total dollars as given in the previous year.
Foundation support accounted for most of the growth in giving, increasing from $5.1-billion in fiscal 2000 to $6-billion. Growth occurred because “foundation grants were still being paid out on the basis of last year’s assets,” says the survey’s director, Ann E. Kaplan, before the stock market’s decline took its toll on foundation assets.
Donations from other sources, such as corporations, religious organizations, and individuals who were not alumni of the institutions that received support, stayed almost exactly the same.
Harvard University received $683-million, more than any other institution. Stanford University, which last year was the top recipient of donations, raised $469-million to come in second, followed by Columbia University, which raised $358-million.
Among public universities, Indiana University raised the most, bringing in $301-million, followed by the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which raised $292-million.
Indiana University topped the list by receiving the largest gift in its history — a $105-million grant from the Lilly Endowment — and completing a capital campaign, says Kent Dove, vice president for development at the Indiana University Foundation. “I can assure you that we will not be number one next year,” he says.
Gains at Private Schools
Mercersburg Academy, in Mercersburg, Pa., raised more than any other boarding school, taking in just over $38-million, followed by Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, N.H., which brought in $36-million, and Choate Rosemary Hall, in Wallingford, Conn., with almost $33-million.
The Spence School, in New York, raised more money than any other day school, bringing in $26-million, followed by the Lovett School, in Atlanta, with $15-million.
Don Hill, a spokesman for Mercersburg Academy, says the climate for fund raising these days is less robust than in years past. The last few million dollars the school has received came in “painstakingly slowly,” he says.
A summary of the survey data is available on the Council’s Web site, http://www.cae.org. A full report based on the data will be available in June. Copies will cost $65 for institutions that participated in the survey and $100 for others, and will be available on the group’s Web site or by contacting the Council for Aid to Education, 215 Lexington Avenue, 21st Floor, New York, N.Y. 10016; (212) 661-5800.
