501derful.org
Universities are taking in hefty donations. How about the American Cancer Society?
Donations to universities are on the rise, with some schools hitting all-time highs in terms of single – donation amounts. Last month Howard U. received a gift valued at $70 million and earlier in the month Baruch College recieved $53.5 miliom in donations including a single donation of $25 million from New Plan Excel Realty Trust. In September Brown U. received a $100 millllion gift for fincial aid.
Earlier in September, U. of Michigan, Business School took in a $100 million while Tufts $50 million.
Then there was Stanford at $43.5M.
Recent data show that large donations rose 33% in the 2nd quater from a year ago and 35% from quarter to quarter, according to the Center on Philanthropy at I.U.
Year-end tax planning should include consideration of the transfer if suignifcantly aprecitaed stocks or real estate, thereby avoiding capital gain taxes. Donors can now give away money whle still controling it But should they do it this way? Put the funds in a Donor ADvised Fund instead. Some of these DAFs are moving towards some management by the donor. The biggest fans of donor-investment control might be the financial adviser who want to keep managing the money.
So what’s their secret?
I guess the traditional answers would be: 1. It’s always easier for a university to raise money for special projects than for a large nationwide (or international) nonprofit to do so. Even if the universities have endowments as large or larger than the large nationwide nonprofit’s, the public perception is that organizations like ACS are well funded already and that we have large & active annual & workplace giving campaigns (which we do). 2. Universities may have better naming opportunities. 3. Universities & colleges have a clear pool to draw from – even though most major gifts during a university’s capital campaign DON’T come from alumni, alumni, former faculty, and residents of the area around the college/university are the obvious place to start looking for donors and ACS, for example, doesn’t have such an obvious place. Instead we’re starting with our donors & volunteers who are wonderful and committed, but may not be major-gift prospects.
I should have added above: But we are working on it! I think the ACS Foundation and its major-gift initiatives in the various divisions only started a year or two ago, didn’t they?
The ACS Foundation started about 10 years or so ago.
Interesting that some of the large university gifts are not by Alumni. People and companies are attracted to certain universities by what those unversities do or can do wth the $ or things.
We can offer to do certain things too in the Foundation or in our Divisions with restricted monies. We have to get out and advertise those facts.