May 28, 2008
Debating Alumni Giving
Tom Durso, writing at the 501cFiles, is worried that the mounds of criticism Ivy League institutions’ multibillion-dollar endowments have attracted recently could hurt other, needier colleges.
Mr. Durso responds to an opinion piece by Carroll Bogert, a Harvard alumna and associate director of Human Rights Watch, in The New York Times.
Ms. Bogert criticizes Harvard for continuing to press alumni for donations even as its $35-billion endowment is expected to rise to $100-billion in a decade. “Why do all those clever classmates of mine continue to invest their money in an institution with such a lack of imagination about how to deploy its resources?,” she asks.
Says Mr. Durso: “Bogert’s point is well taken, but I fear she may be throwing the baby out with the bath water.” Harvard, Princeton, and similar universities do benefit from alumni contributions that sit in endowments “never to be heard from again.”
But many other universities are using their alumni contributions to help students and needy communities in innovative ways. Mr. Durso worries that Ms. Bogert’s argument might discourage alumni of those schools from giving.
“Harvard may not need its alumni’s annual fund gifts at this point; Worcester State College surely does. It would be a shame if Worcester’s alumni heeded Bogert’s message and closed their wallets in a mistaken huff,” he concludes.
What do you think?
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I work for a small community college that does not have an alumni program. I know that it would make a huge difference for the college if we were able to rely on past students to help us support the work that we are doing now. I have been shocked by how much funding 4 year schools receive instead of the 2 year community colleges. Both are state schools and are filling a need.
Jason Dick
www.ASmallChange.net
— Jason Dick Jun 9, 11:11 PM #