The bottom line looks good: Stanford raised a record $319.6 million in the last fiscal year. But it's another number that makes the University's chief fund-raiser smile: 39.1. That was the percentage of undergraduate alumni who made contributions. "It's very important for Stanford's long-term financial health to have a broad base of financial support," says John Ford, '71, vice president for development. "You don't want to depend on too few people."
Participation has been increasing since the University established The Stanford Fund in 1995. That first year, 31.3 percent of undergraduate alumni made a gift to the fledgling fund or to another Stanford program. Thanks to a strong economy and a focused effort by University fund-raisers, that figure has climbed steadily (see chart). Revenue to The Stanford Fund also has increased -- from $3.8 million in 1995 to $8.7 million this year. The fund pays for student scholarships and supports innovative education efforts.
Strong increases were reported across the other annual funds. At the Law Fund, 40.6 percent of alumni gave -- the highest percentage ever. Individual classes and schools set their own records, too. Ninety-two percent of the 250-member class of 1937 contributed. And 76.1 percent of the graduating seniors made contributions, up from 73 percent in 1998. Just six years ago, only 8 percent of seniors made a donation. "That's what's going to pay off 10, 20, 25 years down the road," Ford says. "It really bodes well for the future."
These steps are good news for the University, which is making up for a history of lackluster participation. For many years Stanford didn't educate students about the importance of ongoing support and didn't communicate to alumni how much the institution and today's students depend on them.
Although administrators are happy about this year's results, they acknowledge that Stanford still could do better. The percentage of alumni participating in annual giving at Princeton University -- which fund-raisers say is "the gold standard" in this field -- was 61 percent last year.
