University 10th in alumni giving

American colleges and universities raised about $23.2 billion in 1999-2000, a 13.7-percent increase over the previous year, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. It was the fifth consecutive year of double-digit increases in the percentage rate of giving to colleges and universities by private individuals and organizations.

Princeton ranked tenth in total alumni giving with $89.3 million. Yale University led the pack with $233.7 million, followed by Stanford and Harvard universities, which raised $209.9 million and $188.1 million respectively.

Stanford led in the category of total giving by raising a total of $580.5 million, taking over the top spot from Harvard, which collected $485 million in 2000. Princeton did not rank in the top 20 in total giving, though it raised about $200 million in donations, according to Vice President for Finance and Administration Richard Spies GS '72.

Though the University did not make the top 20 in total giving, Vice President for Development Van Zandt Williams '65 said Princeton did well for the size of its student body.

"On a per-student basis we're actually very high," he said.

In the 1999-2000 academic year, the latest year for which data is available, 80,000 alumni participated in the University's annual giving campaign, contributing $35.5 million in unrestricted funds, according to Spies. This money does not go to the endowment but rather toward covering annual University expenses.

Williams said 61 percent of undergraduate alumni and 14 percent of graduate alumni gave to the University.

Gifts ranged from $10 to several hundred thousand dollars, "whatever [alumni] feel they can do," Spies said.

In the Ivy League, only Dartmouth approached Princeton's undergraduate alumni giving rate.

Williams and Amherst colleges are also near the 60-percent rate for undergraduate alumni giving, but they have fewer alumni and typically receive smaller individual contributions, Spies explained.

Williams said 80 percent of Princeton's total giving comes from alumni and 20 percent is donated by corporations and foundations. The average higher education institution receives 29 percent of donations from alumni and 40 percent from corporations and foundations with the rest coming from individuals, religious organizations and other sources.

Spies explained the University receives a higher proportion of donations from alumni because it has a stronger tradition of alumni support than elsewhere. He said alumni realize that donations supported them through college, even if they paid full tuition. Students have an obligation to give back and support successiv generations, he said.

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Alumni also tend to donate more to the University because they tend to be more successful financially, Spies explained.

Williams said he does not expect the University to be ranked very high for this academic year with the conclusion of a fund-raising campaign and the search for a new University president underway. According to Spies, 80 percent of undergraduate alumni contributed to the five-year anniversary campaign.

Though new pledges have declined somewhat because of the economic slowdown, the cash flow is about even with last year as donors follow through on pledges, he said.

Capital investments supplement annual giving contributions. These funds can go toward the general endowment or specific goals such as funding a professorship or scholarship, construction and renovations and specific activities such as an exhibit at the art museum, Williams said. The annual giving campaign does not fund the general endowment. The annual fundraising is separate from the recently concluded endowment campaign.