Rodin works to help ensure Penn's financial health

Though University President Judith Rodin presides over a non-profit academic institution, her colleagues stress that she is strongly committed to developing University resources, raising the endowment and running Penn like a Fortune 500 company. And since Rodin arrived on campus in 1994, Penn's wallet has definitely gained a few bills. Within the Agenda for Excellence, Rodin's five-year strategic plan, Rodin set specific financial goals -- including the effective management of University resources and fundraising to increase the school's endowment. With her job as the head of the University an all-encompassing position, Rodin says she typically spends 30 to 40 percent of her time fundraising. And her work has achieved noticeable results. Since Rodin took over as Penn's president, the school's endowment has tripled to where it stands now at $3.02 billion. And according to Bonnie Devlin, the development official overseeing Agenda fundraising, Rodin has garnered larger gifts than her predecessors have, including Huntsman Chemical Corp. CEO John Huntsman's $40 million contribution to the Wharton School and Ronald Perelman's $20 million gift for the Perelman Quadrangle. "We are raising a a lot of money," said Rodin, adding that "it's a signal that people believe in what we're doing." What they're doing has spread a long way. Rodin has launched an aggressive fundraising campaign which has raised a total of $510 million since the implementation of the Agenda. She has also developed a budgeting system that spans a five-year period, managing University resources more stringently than the former one-year system did. But Penn's investment policies for the endowment came under fire last spring when the Free Burma Coalition accused the University of investing in socially questionable stocks -- such as the Philip Morris Co., the nation's leading tobacco company, and corporations that operate in countries with poor human rights records. Still, Penn officials laud Rodin's dedication to enhancing the University's financial prowess. Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Virginia Clark noted that Penn raised $1.4 billion during the Campaign for Penn, a fundraising drive from 1989 to 1994 during Sheldon Hackney's presidential tenure, bringing in a yearly average of about $120 million. And this year Penn hopes to raise three times as much -- an estimated fundraising total of $300 million, Clark said. Clark attributed the drastic increase in fundraising directly to Rodin, citing her leadership and strategic planning as key reasons for the funding hike. "She has this great ability to relate and reach out to people," Clark explained. "The 85-year-old alumnus loves her to death and the 30-year-old investment banker is wowed by her." Almost every Penn event provides fundraising opportunities for the president. Just two weeks ago, approximately 900 people gathered at the Bellevue Hotel for a farewell dinner for outgoing Law School Dean Colin Diver, an event which Rodin described as a "farewell for Colin but also huge development for me." According to Devlin, Penn's efforts focus on alumni who can "make substantial gifts" by attempting to educate them about Penn's strategic plan through events or visits from development officers. When the office feels it has found a potential donor, Rodin then takes the reigns and invites the alumnus to discuss financial opportunities. And according to the donors themselves, Rodin's passion for Penn comes through strong and clear. "Dr. Rodin is a person of great warmth and sincerity," said Huntsman, who explained that Rodin has the ability to make the University's goals "come alive." Huntsman also noted Rodin's charisma, saying, "She's as charming herself as the University is great." Though Rodin has secured substantial donations for major projects, such as Huntsman Hall and the renovation of Penn's recreational facilities, the goals in the Agenda are far from funded. Devlin said the University has yet to begin fundraising for the upcoming $300 million dorm and dining renovations, scheduled to begin this summer. Though donors will fund only a portion of that project, Devlin said officials are poised to begin the fundraising campaign immediately. And while the University's endowment has soared over the years, very little of it is used to fund financial aid, as many of Penn's Ivy League counterparts do. As rival institutions battle for the best students, financial aid offers can become a key point of contention when prospective students choose universities, and currently Penn is lagging behind its peers in that department. Currently, Penn spends $52 million annually on financial aid and only six percent of that money comes from the endowment, according to Joanne Hanna, who heads Penn's development efforts for undergraduate financial aid. Princeton University, by contrast, offers financial aid packages that are funded 95 percent through the school's endowment. Hanna added that every other Ivy institution funds at least 30 percent of financial aid through its endowment, adding that developing the endowment is now an urgent priority for Penn. To date, Penn has raised $55 million of its $200 million financial aid fundraising goal, set for completion in 2003, Hanna said. "We've got to make [the goal] -- there's a real importance to make it," Hanna said.