Even with the downturn in the economy, some universities’ fundraising is staying mostly stable. The University of Oregon serves as one example.
Of the seven universities under the Oregon University System for the 2009 fiscal year, the University ranks at the top for fundraising, with total net assets at more than $654 million. Oregon State University comes second with net assets totaling more than $401 million.
A school’s total net assets, or private gifts, include endowments, spendable and planned gifts.
“It’s a difficult time with the economy in a swamp for any school or organization to raise private funds,” Associate Vice President of Development Shane Giese said. “But the U of O is doing very well.”
In the past decade, the University has seen more money each year than the last, with exceptions in 2003 and 2009. In 2009, the University brought in about $89 million less than the previous year, or about $743 million. Though it had total net assets of more than $235 million in 1999, the University has more than $654 million now.
“Different universities are all over the place in terms of money they raise,” Giese said.
Private gifts for universities are considered an important part of financing projects and providing the assistance to students and faculty that some states cannot, said Di Saunders, Oregon University System director of communications.
Each university has an organization or foundation that handles these funds with a board of directors that votes on how the money will be allocated, while taking faculty recommendations into account.
“Generally the funds are used for a variety of things. (Colleges) try to keep a corpus fund that they use to fund other programs,” Saunders said. “Campuses are reliant in raising private funds to support students and pay faculty.”
Saunders said raising private gifts was important to public universities because some states had been decreasing their funding. This year, the University is receiving about nine to 11 percent of its total funding from the state, she said.
Universities have various ways of raising private funds, from holding special events, forming relationships with the business community and reaching out to alumni. Most universities have a foundation, such as the University of Oregon Foundation, through which private donors and businesses contribute money.
Giese said the University was increasing its private gifts and continuing to fundraise for
the future.
Oregon State University has also been satisfied with its recent fundraising efforts.
“With the economy last year, we did see a dip in funding,” said Molly Brown, senior director of strategic communications & donor relations of the Oregon State University Foundation.
“The trend for the past five years has been moving up with some fluctuations.”
Brown said OSU collects private funds in a multitude of ways, including engaging alumni, planning events and sending out mail appeals and e-mail solicitations. OSU’s best fundraising year was 2008, with 2009 being its second-best.
Above all, Saunders said she thought universities garnered the most support from their alumni.
“Going to college is a transformational event, so a lot of people want to pay back to the transformation they went through,” she said.
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