Personal Giving Drives Growth In College and University Fundraising
| Posted in Fundraising on Feb 19, 2012 |
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Charitable contributions to colleges and universities in the United States increased 8.2 percent in 2011, reaching $30.30 billion, according to results of the annual Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey. As it has historically, giving to colleges started to recover when the economy began to expand. Some recovery in the price of stocks also boosted giving, especially giving for capital purposes, such as endowments.
During the fiscal year studied, confidence in the stability of the national and international economy remained weak, and unemployment was above 9 percent. However, giving to higher education institutions is just $1.3 billion from its historical high of $31.6 billion, reached in 2008.
The growth in contributions is a particularly welcome development as it follows declining or stagnant levels of giving in recent years. Still, giving accounted for only 6.5 percent of college
expenditures in 2011, and giving for current operations, the dollars that can be used immediately to offset current-year expenses, accounted for 3.8 percent of expenditures.
Top 20 Fundraising Institutions Report Sharply Higher Giving- The 20 institutions that raised the most in 2011 received $8.24 billion—15.8 percent more than they raised in 2010.
- The top 20 institutions in 2011 are not exactly the same institutions as the top 20 in 2010.
- The 2011 top 20 raised 15.3 percent more than the top 20 institutions raised in 2010.
- While the top 20 institutions in 2011 represent 2 percent of the 1,009 survey respondents, contributions to those 20 institutions account for 27.2 percent of all 2011 gifts to higher education institutions.
- The increase in giving to these 20 institutions ($1.12 billion) accounts for nearly half of the increase ($2.30 billion) to all institutions.
- Stanford University raised more from private donors than any other university, followed by Harvard University and Yale University.
Charitable Gifts Concentrated at the Top
As is true of the nonprofit sector overall, most of the charitable dollars go to a small number of institutions.- Twenty-five percent of the responding institutions raised 86.3 percent of the dollars reported on the VSE survey.
- The next 25 percent account for under 10 percent, and the next two quartiles of institutions together account for less than 5 percent of the total.
- The top quartile of institutions raised 11.3 percent more in 2011 than in 2010.
- The bottom three quartiles of the core group as a group raised 9.6 percent less in 2011 than in 2010. However, 45.5 percent of those institutions posted gains.
- 36.1 percent of those institutions reported increases above the 8.2 percent estimated to have been gained nationally.
- Smaller institutions raise significantly less than the top quartile, and so have less of an effect on national estimates.
Personal Giving Drove 2011 Increase
Alumni giving increased 9.9 percent, and non-alumni individuals gave 14.8 percent more to colleges and universities in 2011. The sum of the twenty largest gifts from each of four types of donors (individuals, bequests, foundations, and corporations) reveals a different pattern, one that may be significant in this year’s results.- The sum of the 20 largest personal gifts reported on the survey was 22.9 percent higher than in 2010.
- The sum of the 20 largest bequests was 72 percent larger in 2011.
- The sum of the 20 largest corporate gifts increased 1.5 percent.
- The sum of the 20 largest foundation gifts declined 18.3 percent.
How The The Stock Market Factors In
It is noteworthy that the academic fiscal year ended at a peak in stock performance. Between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2011, the NYSE Index increased 28.7 percent. The performance during the academic fiscal year probably played a role in the frequency and value of gifts of stock. A group of 472 institutions replied to the optional question about gifts of securities. Those institutions reported that the value of gifts of stock they received rose 38.2 percent from the prior year. The number of such gifts increased 13.9 percent, and the average value of each gift grew 21.3 percent.
Corporate and Foundation Giving Show Modest Increase
Corporate giving increased 6.1 percent, and foundation giving grew 3.3 percent. A small number of institutions reported on gifts of product and other in-kind donations from companies. While the survey does not capture partnerships, sponsorships, or clinical trials, these are large charitable gifts of product that can play a major role at certain institutions.
While foundation giving increased only slightly, it accounts for the largest portion of contributions (28.6 percent) reported on this year’s survey. Family foundations were responsible for 35.5 percent of foundation contributions.
Endowments Continue to Rebound
Endowment values increased 16.7 percent among a core group of institutions that reported values for two consecutive years. Of the institutions reporting, 94.8 percent indicated their endowments had grown in 2011. The median change was 17 percent. For 2011, the average gain among the core group reporting endowment values was 16.3 percent.
The Council for Aid to Education is grateful to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for its sponsorship of the VSE survey. The Council for Aid to Education (CAE) is a national nonprofit organization based in New York City. CAE is the nation's sole source of empirical data on private giving to education, through the annual Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey and its Data Miner interactive database. Download the full report at http://www.cae.org/content/pro_data_trends.htm.
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Charitable Contributions Colleges and Universities Voluntary Support of Education Survey Charitable Gifts Council for Aid to Education Council for Advancement and Support of Education CASE
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