Harvard's endowment nears $30 billion

Harvard's endowment reached an all-time high in the year ending June 30, growing $3.3 billion to a total just shy of a whopping $29.2 billion.

But in a development that could damage its national rankings, Harvard College, the undergraduate arm of the university, said this week that the percentage of its alumni contributing to its annual fund decreased this year to 39 percent, a 17-year low.

The rate was only one point below Harvard's performance last year, but it has been declining over the past five years, The Harvard Crimson reported.

Princeton, meanwhile, has received steady alumni giving of between 58 percent and 60 percent, Director of Development Relations Steve LeMenager said. This year, the Office of Development raised $40,400,000, the largest annual giving fund in history.

"We're extremely pleased and appreciative for the giving of our alumni," LeMenager said. He added that the giving rate is especially impressive "since it falls during a time when there's been stiff competition with causes such as hurricane Katrina, the 2004 tsunami [and] 9/11."

Fundraisers such as these may have contributed to Harvard's drop in alumni participation, according to the Crimson.

Though Harvard's alumni participation rate decreased, the total number of alumni who made a gift to the college actually increased this year from 31,435 to 33,554, a spokesperson for Harvard alumni affairs and development said.

The spokesperson explained that the alumni affairs and development department has seen its base of eligible donors grow over the past few years because of larger graduation classes, longer lifespans and greater availability of mail addresses. Importantly, the larger base of alumni donors may have contributed to the lower alumni giving percentage.

Alumni dissatisfaction, however, could have also depressed alumni giving. Regardless of the cause, alumni giving factors into a school's score in the "U.S. News & World Report" ranking. This metric accounts for five percent of the overall score for the magazine's annual ranking of America's best colleges. This year, Princeton overtook Harvard in the rankings after three years tied for first.

"U.S. News & World Report" uses many different ways to measure fundraising progress, including annual total current receipts, annual total new commitments, two-year averages of participation and annual percent of participation in Annual Giving, University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt '96 explained in an email.

Notably, the University's alumni giving percentages among the younger alumni are well above average. The youngest alumni classes have come through at close to a 67 percent participation rate, "which shows much momentum," LeMenager said.

Other members of the University administration were also pleased with the University's young alumni giving rates.

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"That's pretty unusual for a university to see that level of engagement already in the early years," University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee '69 said.

Cliatt attributes Princeton's high giving numbers to the close relationship between the University and its alumni as well as Princeton's "long tradition of giving back."

"Alumni appreciate the fact that no student pays the true cost of a Princeton education, recognizing that tuition and fees cover only about half the actual cost," Cliatt said in an email. "Therefore, when alumni are in a position to help the next generation, they give."

Harvard's endowment, the largest in the country, returned 16.7 percent on its investments, according to figures reported by the Crimson. Actual endowment growth was 11.3 percent, lower than the returns figure because of endowment spending.

Princeton has yet to announce its endowment growth figures for the past fiscal year.