The Brown Annual Fund reached a new level of fundraising achievement last year, becoming the second largest in the Ivy League for unrestricted gifts and remaining second highest in the country for parent donations.
The Annual Fund, the most popular method of donating to Brown for parents of students and alums, raised $30.7 million between June 30, 2005, and June 30, 2006, marking a 23-percent increase from the 2004-05 year and a record for the University. The fund contributes to increasing faculty size and quality, funding first-year seminars and graduate programs and increasing Brown's technology and diversity efforts, among other things.
"It is a vote of confidence in the University," said Neil Steinberg '75, vice president for development and director of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment. "There are a lot of great things going on with the Plan for Academic Enrichment, and donors are recognizing that."
The increase in the Annual Fund is in large part due to the Campaign for Academic Enrichment, an effort to raise $1.4 billion for the University, Steinberg said. The campaign, which entered its public phase last October, had accomplished 53 percent of its goal as of July.
Part of the record success is the result of participation challenges set by members of the Brown Corporation, said Annual Fund Director Tammie Ruda. Three challenges totaling $3.5 million were made to encourage donations from alums, including one to encourage gifts of over $10,000 and another to encourage giving by members of classes that graduated in the last 10 years.
Brown parents also made record-setting donations in the 2005-06 year, totaling $4.2 million.
Some money donated to the Annual Fund is immediately put to work improving Brown, for example by funding new technology and classes, Ruda said. "Alumni see concrete examples of what their support does for the University," which in turn inspires more giving, she added.
One of the most encouraging signs of sustained growth of the Annual Fund is the increase in broad-based support, Ruda said, noting that 32,295 donors contributed to the Annual Fund last year, an increase of 7 percent from the 2004-2005 year.
This was led in part by alums from GOLD classes, which graduated between 1996 and 2006. GOLD classes constitute 22 percent of current alums, Ruda said, adding that participation among GOLD classes has risen 76 percent in the last five years.
Ruda also cited other examples of the increased fundraising success.
"One of the most important components to the Annual Fund is the student calling center," Ruda said. Sixty student callers raised over $1.8 million last year for the Annual Fund and brought in about half of the total number of donors to the Annual Fund.
Reunion classes often contribute large gifts to the Annual Fund. This year, the class of 1976 and the class of 1981 - which celebrated their 30th and 25th reunions, respectively - contributed more than $2 million each, another University record.
Senior class donations are particularly important, Ruda said.
"Alumni look at (senior giving) as an indication of support on campus for the campaign," she said.
Ruda said the increasingly broad base of support for the Annual Fund would support future growth, even after the conclusion of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment. Future growth can also come from truly annual donations, instead of donations made every few years, Ruda said. "I don't think we are done with Annual Fund growth," she said.
