Stanford University

News Service


NEWS RELEASE

10/13/99

James Robinson, News Service (650) 723-5675; e-mail: jamesrob@stanford.edu

Cecilia Evangelista, Office of Development,

(650) 725-4285

Giving to Stanford sets new record

Giving to Stanford totaled $319.6 million in the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, setting several new records, Vice President for Development John Ford announced Tuesday.

The total figure set a new record and was the fourth year in a row that the university has exceeded $300 million in cash receipts, Ford said. The $319.6 million figure was a slight increase from last year's $319.4 million total.

Records also were set in other important categories:

c The total number of gifts increased 15.2 percent to 106,058.

c The number of donors grew 11.3 percent to 65,819.

c Gifts to The Stanford Fund swelled 26.1 percent to $8,699,178.

c Undergraduate alumni participation, a top priority, grew from 34.8 percent to 39.1 percent.

"It's fabulous," Robert Bass, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said of the results. "We are very gratified that the university continues to do very well in communicating its story and its need, and alumni and supporters of the university are very responsive and very generous."

Ford saw a combination of factors behind the continued growth.

"I think the emphasis President [Gerhard] Casper has made on annual giving, our efforts to organize The Stanford Fund around class giving and the healthy economy are the three elements that have worked very well for us," he said.

Focusing The Stanford Fund on efforts by class volunteers has been instrumental in making its strong gains. The fund is dedicated to undergraduate education.

"The Stanford Fund has a very clear mission to support undergraduates. I think the innovations over the last number of years in undergraduate education are becoming more and more understood and appreciated by undergraduates and their parents," Ford said.

In a more general way, Ford noted that Stanford has enjoyed "considerable success in the last seven years in the wake of the Centennial Campaign without having another major comprehensive effort" ­ success that he said had brought levels of giving to a "new plateau."

But, he added, "it is also very clear that we have considerable potential" to make additional progress. "We need to raise a good deal more money for undergraduate education, particularly for an endowment for these new [undergraduate] programs, and we need to raise more endowment for scholarships."

Ford pointed out that individual school campaigns had contributed significantly to the 1998-99 record total.

The Graduate School of Business' 75th Anniversary Fund, which set a goal of $75 million, already has reached $95 million and isn't over until the end of next year.

The five-year Campaign for Stanford Law School had an original goal of $50 million but is approaching $100 million.

And the Hoover Institution campaign is ahead of schedule, reaching $65.5 million of its $75 million target with one more year to go, Ford said.

Meanwhile, work continues on major initiatives such as endowing the Stanford graduate fellowships program to ensure its long-term success. The target is $200 million, and as of Aug. 31 the total reached was $166 million, Ford said.

"That's all endowment. The intention is to meet that by the end of the fiscal year. That's Mr. Casper's program and when he leaves he'll have it funded," Ford said, referring to Aug. 31, 2000, the end of the fiscal year and the last day Casper plans to serve as president.

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By James Robinson


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