Stanford unveils $4.3 billion campaign

Correction appended

Stanford started the public phase of the largest-ever fundraising drive by an institution of higher education, president John Hennessy announced Tuesday.

The five-year, $4.3-billion capital campaign campaign, billed as "The Stanford Challenge," edges out the $4-billion campaign announced by Columbia two weeks ago.

Princeton is expected to announce a public capital campaign in the coming years. The so-called "quiet phase" of fundraising — the period before the official launch of a campaign — has already begun, with the tentative goal of $1.5 billion to $2 billion, though those plans are reportedly subject to change.

The size of Stanford's capital campaign may prompt a larger push by Princeton, because of the intensely competititive nature of high-education fundraising.

When the quiet phase of the current campaign began last fall, former Board of Trustees vice chair Paul Wythes '55 told The Daily Princetonian that he thought the University would intentionally underestimate its fundraising goal.

"I would guess that they would put a number that they would go after and hopefully beat it," he said. "You don't want to come up short. Princeton's never come up short."

Stanford's endowment was valued at $15 billion at the close of the 2005-06 fiscal year in June, making it the third-largest private university endowment, behind Harvard and Yale. Though 2006 figures have not yet been released, Princeton's endowment was valued at $11.2 billion in 2005.

Recruiting advertisements for the University's investment company have indicated that the endowment has grown to at least $13 billion. A formal announcement on the fund's growth over the past year is expected late this month.

Of the money raised by Stanford, $1.4 billion is earmarked for multidisciplinary programs to "seek solutions to the century's most pressing global challenges," including research on human health, environmental sustainability and international peace and security. Another $1.175 billion is for various education and arts initiatives, and $1.725 billion is for support of the university's academic programs.

Stanford raised $2.19 billion toward its total goal during the two-year quiet phase of the campaign that preceded this week's announcement, the university's statement in the Stanford Bulletin said.

"The scope and complexity of social and scientific challenges has grown immensely in recent decades," Hennessy said, adding that "universities are uniquely positioned to address these complexities."

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In total, 11 U.S. universities are in the midst of capital campaigns in excess of $2 billion and 14 others schools are engaged in campaigns between $1 billion and $2 billion.

Harvard is also in the quiet phase of its own capital campaign, which is expected to seek about $4 billion.

Correction

The original version of this story incorrectly stated that the University will announce a new capital campaign this year. There are currently no such plans. Also, the "quiet phase" of the anticipated campaign did not begin in November 2005, but earlier. We regret the errors.