12-3-09: Stanford: VP of Office of Development Martin Shell provides snapshot of FY 2009 fundraising

While the "economic tsunami" of 2009 clearly took a toll on fundraising at Stanford, the university "closed its books with $640.1 million in receipts in the door," Martin Shell, vice president of the Office of Development, announced on Thursday.

Speaking to the Faculty Senate at its last meeting of autumn quarter, Shell said the $640 million in cash, which was collected in fiscal year 2009, ending Aug. 31, includes new gifts and payments on pledges booked in previous years.

"It comes from a broad array of donors," Shell said, noting that the total comprises 106,600 gifts from nearly 71,000 different donors.

The sum represents a 20 percent decline from fiscal 2008, when Stanford raised $785 million in total cash, he said.

The Office of Development oversees fundraising campaigns, such as the Stanford Challenge, which was launched in 2006, and ongoing gift-giving programs, such as the Stanford Fund for Undergraduate Education, which encourages alumni, students, parents and friends to make annual gifts to the university.

Shell said everyone always asks the development staff: 'Where do you get your money? Can't you just get corporations to give you a big gift and be done with it?

"Development offices spend their time with individuals, because that's where the gifts typically come from," he said. "That's not to diminish the very important gift support we receive from corporations and foundations, but as a percentage of the pie [the largest slice] comes from individuals."

Referring to a color slide showing the five-year average of sources of gift income, Shell said 46 percent comes from alumni and 16 percent comes from "non-alumni friends," including parents and individuals such as Hasso Plattner, a German business leader who donated $35 million for a new design institute in 2005.

Shell said he considers bequests, which accounted for 10 percent of gifts on the chart, as donations from individuals.

"And in many ways, given the history of this institution, a significant piece of this foundation slice [foundations and associations accounted for 22 percent of the pie] you could almost think comes from individuals as well, when you think about the relationship this institution has had with William and Flora Hewlett," he said.

In 2001, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation gave Stanford $400 million – $300 million for the School of Humanities and Sciences and $100 million for the Campaign for Undergraduate Education.

"While the Hewlett gift passed through the Hewlett Foundation, in many ways this was representative of a lifelong relationship with that family," Shell said. "Or the David and Lucile Packard family. And there are others like that. The gift would route through a foundation, but in fact came from a long-term individual relationship with the institution."

While early fundraising efforts for the Stanford Challenge focused on raising money for new facilities, the development office had turned its attention to raising funds for scholarships, fellowships and professorships over the last 18 months, Shell said.

"By their very nature, those gifts are smaller, but there are many more of them," he said.

Shell said the university has identified several new programs that need funding, including projects in the campaign's environment and sustainability initiative, and the human health initiative.

"The goals of the Stanford Challenge take on a new urgency in these troubled times," he said.

Shell said Stanford will release a detailed report on 2009 fundraising in February.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/november30/shell-faculty-senate-120309.html