U. cash campaign surpasses other Ivy League drives

Cornell's effort running second Drawing $1.246 billion so far, the University's "Campaign for Penn" has surpassed all other current Ivy League capital efforts. Cornell University has come closest to the University's current pledge total, topping $975 million at the end of 1993, said Jan Thomas, an aide to Cornell's director of development. Executive Vice President Janet Hale said she was pleased with the successes of the University's campaign to date. "We have tremendous financial needs here at Penn, and it's important that we remain competitive," she said. "We have to recognize that it's either fundraising or tuition increases." Cornell's five-year campaign has a final goal of $1.25 billion by the end of 1995, Thomas said. Yale University, whose campaign goal of $1.5 billion is slightly higher than the University's, is third in the Ivies, raising $825.5 million, said Yale's Director of Development and Alumni Relations David Baker. Columbia University is nearing its goal of $1.15 million, according to an official in Columbia's development office. It raised $815 million by the end of 1993, but like Cornell, still has two years remaining. Harvard and Princeton universities are the only two Ivy League schools not currently running institution-wide capital drives. Officials at Harvard, though, said yesterday they are in the planning stages of a campaign that will begin this May. Harvard's preliminary goal for its upcoming capital campaign is $2 billion over five years, "more or less," said Kristine Jesperson, assistant to the executive director for the Harvard College Fund . The campaign will be Harvard's first ever university-wide fundraising drive, Jesperson said. In the past, she said, each school at Harvard conducted its own campaign. Princeton's Vice President for Development Van Williams said while his university is not currently involved in a capital campaign, it may gear up for a drive in 1996, coinciding with Princeton's 250th anniversary. Before the billion-dollar 1990s began, none of the Ivy League schools had targets or results that even approached $1 billion. Thomas said it took five years for Cornell to rack up $605 million, from 1982 to 1987. In just the past three years, though, donors have pledged $975 million to Cornell's current capital campaign. Yale's Baker said a capital campaign ending in 1979 reported earning only $270 million. As of last November -- not even half way through its campaign -- Yale had already acquired $825.5 million. Brown and Dartmouth are also running capital fundraising efforts, but on smaller scales than the others. Brown's Associate Vice President for University Relations Eric Broudy said that to date, the campaign -- targeting $450 million by the end of 1995 -- has brought in "slightly over" $300 million. And Dartmouth's Director of Development Lucretia Martin said her school's comprehensive campaign is "right on target." "We're doing very well, and we're way ahead of schedule," Martin said. So far Dartmouth has raised more than $300 million of its $425 million goal with more than two years to go in the campaign. The University's fundraiser, called "Campaign for Penn," already met its first goal of $1 billion last June, and added an additional $300 million as a "stretch" goal, Hale said.