Despite economy, donations to Rice remain consistent

By Seth Brown     2/11/10 6:00pm

While the university may be following the nationwide pattern of fiscal restraint, Rice's funds have avoided the negative national trend in philanthropic giving. Vice President for Resource Development Darrow Zeidenstein said that participation in alumni giving at Rice has gone up 1 percent over the past year, reaching 35 percent and an all-time high in cash donations.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported a 12 percent decrease in donations to colleges and universities across the country.

According to Associate Vice President for Development Kevin Foyle, Rice's Annual Fund received $6.35 million in Fiscal Year 2008, which includes all donations made between July 2007 and June 2008, and the fund received $6.9 million in FY 2009. Foyle said that the goal for FY 2010 is to reach at least $7 million.

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"As far as I know, Rice's [Annual Fund] is the only such fund up in revenue and participation," Zeidenstein said.

The Annual Fund goes toward funding scholarships and college budget money, among other endeavors.

Zeidenstein said that the Centennial Campaign, which aims to collect $1 billion in donations by June 2013, has been a major part of Rice's success in receiving donations. As of the end of January, the Centennial Campaign had collected $582.8 million.

"One of the goals of the campaign is about instilling a sense of pride and loyalty, and to give the alumni a sense of momentum," Zeidenstein said. "This is a vote of confidence in what the university has accomplished."

The Centennial Campaign includes a special program directed at young alumni, under which gifts made by the last 10 classes are matched by Karen (Jones '79) and Rich (Sid Rich '80) Whitney. If donations were made by end of 2009, the Whitneys tripled their matching funds, and if donations are made by Beer Bike, the Whitneys will double the matching funds.

"We started [the campaign] to protect ourselves from the economic downturn," Foyle said. "The program has worked to engage young alumni."

Younger alumni are typically the least represented in donations, Zeidenstein said, with about an 18-19 percent participation rate among the last 10 classes, as compared to a 50-55 percent rate among older classes.

Zeidenstein said that while most gifts are made for current use, gifts made to the endowment are just as important.

Vice President for Investments and Treasurer Scott Wise said that donations are especially important for the endowment, as they are the only source of fresh capital. The endowment, which currently sits at about $3.6 billion, typically has three ways in which to change: through losses and gains due to investments made, through donations and through spending, which has typically been around $220 million a year, or 4.5 to 5 percent of its total value.

Though the endowment has lost almost $1 billion - 18.1 percent of its former value - due to the recession over the past 18 months, this does not translate to budget cuts on the same order across the university.

"The budget isn't as volatile as the changes in the market value of the endowment," Wise said.

Rather, Wise said, the budget is based on the performance of the endowment over the past three years. Wise also said that gifts to the endowment have averaged $20-$30 million a year over the past 10 years, generally in the form of pledges paid out over a span of three to five years.

Overall, Foyle said that the university is fortunate to have so many alumni in Texas, which has been relatively sheltered from the recession as compared to the East Coast.

"Alumni participation is down among our peers, and it's flat here," Foyle said. "It would be good to increase participation this year, but even if it's flat again, it's still bucking the trend.

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