News Highlights

MSU expects to see increase in gifts in 05

2006-04-09

By Free Press Staff and The Associated Press [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN]

After two years without growth, charitable contributions to U.S. colleges and universities rose 3.4 percent last year to a record $24.4 billion, according to a report released Wednesday.

But donations at Minnesota State University have remained flat from 2003 to 2004, said Dave Williams, vice president of university advancement.

The $2.7 million the university brought in was on par with the previous year partly because the university was wrapping up a large capital campaign from about five years ago.

The university raised $39 million to fund buildings, including the Taylor Center, and that money is delivered over three to five years, Williams said.

Typically, large donors are given three to five years to pay their pledge. But Williams also expects 2005 to be significantly above 2004, noting that the university recently received a $720,000 donation from Dr. Donald Meredith, a longtime Mankato physician.

The money raised is never enough for the needs to be filled, Williams said, noting that MSU gives out $800,000 in scholarships spread out over 14,000 students. And tuition has been rising at double-digit rates of increase per year.

"It's not a lot per student. We're falling way short," Williams said.

The increase nationally was driven by a 9.7 percent increase in giving from individual donors, including a 21.5 percent surge in giving by non-alumni individuals. That offset a 6.1 percent decline in giving by foundations.

Among alumni, total giving rose slightly, but the percentage of alumni donating fell, as it has every year since 2001.

Though the increase in overall contributions barely outpaced inflation, survey director Ann Kaplan of CAE called the results "not too bad," considering the decline in foundation grants, which she expects to turn around.

The overall increase followed zero growth in 2003 and a decline in 2002 - the first since 1988.

Kaplan credited a stronger economy and more effective fund raising.

"Fund-raising behavior has a strong effect," she said. "The number one reason people make gifts is being asked. Without that, the economy's not going to have much of an effect on giving."

Perhaps the best news for colleges and universities was the 21.5 percent increase in gifts from non-alumni donors - often parents of alumni, community members or donors who want to back specific research. The increase suggests schools are succeeding in expanding their donor pools.

Williams said MSU will aim to expand its donor base overall by targeting the parents of its 14,000 students, betting that if something good happened to their children at MSU, they'll be willing to contribute.

He also said the university has a strong program of donations from faculty and staff.

Harvard University led the national list by raising $540 million, according to the latest annual survey by the Council for Aid to Education, a unit of the RAND Corporation. UCLA, 10th overall, raised the most of any public university - $262 million.

Overall, alumni donations last year accounted for 28 percent of university giving, non-alumni individuals 21 percent, corporations 18 percent and foundations 25 percent. Foundations generally ramp up giving more slowly than individuals when the economy recovers, as it has in the last two years.

But while total alumni giving rose 2 percent to $6.7 billion, the percentage of alumni donating fell to 12.8 percent. That figure was 13.8 percent in 2001.

Email this article | Permanent link | Topstories news | Topstories news archives