U. campaign still shy of $1.3 billion

St. Albans School '92 Bethesda, Maryland As the University edges closer and closer to its $1.3 billion fundraising goal, the latest figures indicate it is still $31 million shy. The campaign's initial goal of $1 billion was surpassed a year ago, one and a half years ahead of schedule. Although the campaign is nearing its $1.3 billion goal every week, Executive Vice President Janet Hale cautioned against premature optimism. "While we have exceeded the overall number, we have not met some of our subgoals," she said. Those subgoals include funding for areas such as minority permanence, undergraduate financial aid and endowed chairs. Even so, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Virginia Clark says donors have already endowed a record-breaking 140 endowed chairs, exceeding the 104 chairs the Massachusetts Institute of Technology funded in a campaign completed earlier this year. To endow an entire chair, donors must pledge at least $1.25 million, and in some cases up to $2 million. The campaign's five-year goal is to endow a total of 150 new chairs. Despite the overall successes of the campaign, it still remains $4 million short of its $35 million goal for funding minority permanence. An additional goal for undergraduate financial aid was set at $50 million, $47 million of which has been earned so far. Even so, Clark said previous University campaigns have not been nearly as lucrative as this one, calling the Campaign for Penn a "quantum leap" over all the others. At the end of the 1970s, the University's "Program for the Eighties" raised $255 million. And in the 1960s, the University obtained $100 million in its capital campaign. Billionaire philanthropist and alumnus Walter Annenberg's $120 million gift to the Annenberg School for Communication last summer was a "wonderful shot in the arm," Clark said. But at a time when the University is cutting departments and nursing deficits through most of the fiscal year, Clark emphasized that the donations made to the campaign are not just given to the provost and president for "unrestricted use." She said donors work closely with the development office, matching "University priorities" with the wishes of the donors. Clark said she hopes the campaign can raise its goal a third time before the drive ends this December. "But let's get to the $1.3 billion first," she added. There is a celebration planned this September to recognize the overall successes of the campaign.