Capital campaign has raised 72 percent of $3.5-billion goal

Penn’s alumni fundraising has not been significantly hurt by the economy, according to administrators.

For the Making History campaign, “we’ve reached the milestone with $2.5 billion already raised for the campaign,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “That’s 72 percent of our goal.”

When the campaign was launched, University officials said they aimed to raise 70 percent of its $3.5-billion goal by the end of fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30. That goal has been reached.

Furthermore, Gutmann cited an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, which highlighted Penn for raising the highest amount of funds, as of July 31, of any of the 32 U.S. universities with campaign goals over $1 billion.

Despite these successes, commitments, or the amount of money pledged for donation, fell to around $400 million, according to Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations John Zeller.

“We were shy of our goal” of $450 million, Zeller said, although he added that his office had anticipated this decline.

Additionally, Penn received $440 million in monetary donations during FY ‘09. That amount is the second largest in Penn’s history, following a record $476 million in FY ‘08.

Zeller noted that this is “the second-highest fundraising year in receipts,” which demonstrates that donors “have been honoring their pledges.”

But in terms of bringing in new commitments, “it’s a timing issue,” he explained. “It’s not like philanthropy has stopped because of the economy, but people are definitely prioritizing.”

Gutmann emphasized that alumni have been “very responsive” thus far, with alumni outreach “greater than ever.” She added that she expects this outreach to increase this year.

Lately, other Ivy League schools have also seen declines in donations.

Harvard University received $602 million in gifts for FY ‘09 — an 8-percent decline from last year’s total — and alumni giving in particular slowed during the spring months, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Similarly, Princeton University came up shy of its goals. The school raised $44.6 million in its 2008-09 campaign, approximately $11 million less than they had hoped, according to The Daily Princetonian.

Gutmann and Zeller both said they intend to connect with alumni throughout the coming months, culminating with the Engaging Minds lecture series in December and January. This will “allow alumni to experience firsthand the power of our faculty,” Gutmann said.

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