The author discusses the results of an annual "Voluntary Support of Education" survey by the Council for Aid to Education. According to the report, after two lackluster years, donations to U.S. colleges and universities rose last year by a healthy 8.2 percent, to an estimated $30.3-billion. The total raised comes close to the amount seen in 2008,…

This article reports that Princeton University has settled a long-running dispute with the heirs of a major donor by agreeing to pay $50-million to the heirs' foundation and approximately the same amount for their legal fees. The case has been closely watched as a test of how strictly institutions must adhere to donors' wishes. The settlement…

The economy's collapse has caught up with the billion-dollar campaign. In the past 12 months, the amount of money raised by a dozen of the colleges engaged in higher education's biggest fund-raising campaigns fell 32 percent from the year before. The decline, which started before the worst of the recession, has forced colleges to postpone…

Backed by a strong economy and a growing stock market, American colleges and universities raised an estimated $29.8-billion in the 2007 fiscal year, the highest total ever recorded, according to a report released last week by the Council for Aid to Education. But the country's recent economic troubles have some fund-raising experts concerned that…

The psychology behind getting the big gift and making "the ask" for it was a major topic at Fund Raising Day in New York 2008, which drew representatives from across the nonprofit world, including charities, hospitals, colleges, and museums. Laura Fredricks, who was vice president for philanthropy at Pace University from 2002 until earlier this…

The law of diminishing returns, a simple but powerful concept that is widely known by everyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics, is often flagrantly disregarded by many -- including the richest among us. The law states that there comes a time when additional infusion of a factor of production no longer leads to an increase in…

Last week, the biggest annual gathering of college fund raisers was held in New York as some of the rockiest business news of the year unfolded. The three-day event, organized by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, was bookended by the federal government's announcement that it would step in to bail out the beleaguered mortgage…

Among the many groups of Barack Obama's supporters who considered him one of their own, and helped propel him into the presidency, were large numbers of the nation's college professors, administrators, and students. The president-elect won overwhelming support from academe throughout the campaign. The Obama campaign aggressively courted student…

Coming up with ideas for major donations that are not only enticing to the most generous philanthropists but are also aligned with an institution's goals is a vexing problem for many colleges. With 28 colleges now in the midst of capital campaigns with goals of $1-billion or more, finding the right ideas has never been more important. To find…

This article talks about a report on fund-raising campaign done by universities and colleges to support their educational programs. According to the "Voluntary Support of Education" annual report released by the Council for Aid to Education, alumni and other individual donors gave just more than half of the total amount raised. The country's…

Women are expected to own half the wealth in the United States by 2010. They also account for 58 percent of undergraduates at colleges today. Those statistics should loom large for higher-education fund raisers at a time when almost every institution is either in the middle of its largest fund-raising campaign ever or planning to announce one. But…

Conrad Colbrandt gave Saint Mary's College of California a financial permission slip to dream big--a $112-million pledge to support new construction and endowments. From the time that Colbrandt made his pledge in 1997 until 2004, talk of new athletics facilities and classroom buildings became real architectural plans. However, all of those plans…

Discusses findings from a survey on voluntary giving to higher education, which found that a sharp drop in alumni giving in 2002 spurred a dip in colleges' overall donations for the first time in 14 years. (EV)

Discusses a Cleveland philanthropist who is suspending his support for local causes until Case Western Reserve University overhauls its governance to his liking. (EV)

A benefactor's business practices, involvement with political groups, or personal activities can bring protests and negative publicity to a college and raise ethical questions about accepting some donations. (Author/MSE)