Dive Brief:
- While massive fundraising efforts has long been the domain of private schools, a spate of ambitious campaigns from public flagship institutions signals a new trend.
- Bloomberg Business reports Texas A&M's $4 billion campaign, announced last week, matches a push at the University of Michigan and comes in $200,000 under what UCLA is hoping to raise.
- Philanthropic giving in the higher education sphere was up in 2014 from the year before, but as public schools see success in such fundraising efforts, they may give state legislators an additional excuse to cut appropriations.
Dive Insight:
Harvard, which has the longest history of fundraising in the country, has more than $6.1 billion pledged toward its $6.5 billion campaign, and Cornell, another private school with a long history of fundraising, surpassed its $5.75 billion goal and continues to collect.
Reports of $100 million gifts and higher almost exclusively go to the nation's wealthiest schools, prompting some to cry foul. Harvard, critics say, did not need the recent $400 million gift from hedge fund manager John Paulson.
Others argue fundraising doesn't need to be seen as zero sum, that there is enough money out there for everyone. The caution for public institutions, though, is taking care not to raise so much money as to be seen as self-sufficient.