The sour economy has eaten into charitable contributions to colleges and universities across the Triangle, stalling construction projects at some and cutting the amount of money available for scholarships.
The downturn mirrors a national trend, with gift-giving down an average 11.9 percent, according to a report released this week by the Council for Aid To Education. That's the sharp est fall in at least three decades, the report said.
Big gifts in particular were off, said several local university and college officials, citing the drop in the value of potential donors' investments in fiscal 2009, which ended June 30.
For the state universities, the declines were another burden to heap atop their big budget cuts from the state.
Locally, Duke's 22 percent drop was one of the hardest hits, but that reflected a decline from an all-time record year for gifts in fiscal 2008, said Michael Schoenfeld, a university spokesman.
Giving has rebounded 5 percent in the past six months, giving rise to some cautious optimism at Duke, he said. Still, the recession, and institutional belt-tightening over the last year or so, has had an impact. Perhaps most visibly, a new campus development project has stalled for now because private giving was a primary component. But other projects, like a $20 million residence hall and $15 million in central campus improvements, are continuing as scheduled, Schoenfeld said.
And top priorities like financial aid won't be affected even if other budget items are, he said.
"It's not like if financial aid runs out, that's it," Schoenfeld said. "We'll meet our commitments. If that means adjusting other parts of the budget, we will."
At N.C. State University, giving was down about 15 percent, said Ken Sigmon, associate vice chancellor for development.
Projects such as a club-house at the university's new golf course on Centennial Campus will have to wait until large, multi-year gifts bounce back, Sigmon said, adding that NCSU is confident that the trend will eventually be reversed.
"We're not hearing a lot of 'No' answers," he said. "We're hearing a lot of 'not right now.'"
University leaders scraped together $820,000 last year from other sources to help cover the shortfall in giving for endowment-funded scholarships, with the net result that spending for renewable scholarships may not have dropped significantly, said Julie Mallette, associate vice provost and director of scholarships and financial aid. Still, as a precaution, the university temporarily stopped awarding some renewable scholarships to the incoming class this past fall.
UNC-CH does better
UNC-Chapel Hill brought in $270 million in private donations last year, a 7 percent drop from the previous year as donors worried about dwindling investments.
"It's a strong wind in our face," said Matt Kupec, UNC-CH's vice chancellor for university advancement. "The stocks have recovered a bit but the psyches are still fragile."
Still, UNC-CH has fared well relative to its competitors. A year ago, the university ranked 19th overall in private donations nationally; this year, it's up two spots to 17 and is the sixth-best fundraising institution among public universities, its best such ranking ever.
As the big donors tighten their belts, fundraisers at UNC-CH have shifted focus a bit, looking to increase the number of donors giving smaller amounts.
"The big home-run right now is not as likely to happen," Kupec said, referring to gifts of $5 million or more.
Gifts to several of the region's smaller institutions were off, too. At N.C. Central University, giving fell about 6.3 percent to $6.6 million, said LaTanya Afolayan, vice chancellor for institutional advancement.
Years of nurturing
Afolayan said NCCU has been helped by several consecutive years of making steady, routine contacts with potential donors, along with enthusiasm about the college's recent move into Division I sports and its centennial this year.
In the current fiscal year, which began July 1, alumni giving has increased 21 percent over the same period last year, though corporate and foundation gifts are down, she said.
At St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, annual giving actually increased about 5 percent, but with big gifts down substantially, fundraising for big capital projects has slowed. This could mean postponing the second and largest phase of a new track stadium, said Marc Newman, the college's vice president of institutional advancement and development.
"The big gifts just aren't there right now," he said.
Like officials at several other institutions, he said that those who are making gifts seem more interested in funneling money toward scholarships, figuring it makes sense to help students as directly as possible, given that many families are struggling because of the economy.
At Peace College in Raleigh, giving to the annual fund was off about 9 percent, though it has started to improve, said Julie Ricciardi, executive director for development.
"The belts are tightening everywhere, but we're getting glimpses of hope, that if we're good stewards of our campuses, people will recognize that and support it," Ricciardi said.
The entire alumni base of the college is about the same size as a single graduating class from NCSU or UNC-CH, she said, so Peace was happy that it was able to raise $3.5 million in private money over the past two years to renovate and enlarge its library.
