Author: Chloe Jenkins-Sleczowski
Fundraising at Oxy was on the upswing this autumn, following the school’s weathering of the economic downturn. According to Director of Annual Giving Margo McAdams, donations to the school have increased 10 percent since 2008.
The recent economic decline had a significant impact on the college’s fundraising efforts and the endowment. “[The endowment’s] value dropped from $377 million in June 2007 to $278.3 million in June 2009,” said Director of Communications Jim Tranquada, who also works in Institutional Advancement.In addition to endowment decreases, total alumni donations dropped from $4.67 million in 2007-08 to $3.88 million in 2008-09.
But Oxy is not very far off track according to McAdams. “By the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2009, we were less than one percent behind the previous fiscal year, which was remarkable, although still 19 percent under our ambitious year end goal.”
Oxy’s peer institutions reported finishing from four to 25 percent behind the previous year. Although many endowments suffered last year, Oxy fared better than most.In 2008-2009, Oxy’s alumni gift giving rate was 37 percent, compared to Carleton College with 63 percent and Pitzer with 28 percent. McAdams said that Oxy is striving for 40 percent participation this year.
McAdams explained in an e-mail interview that, “Overall, we are running about 30 percent behind last year but this is misleading because there are certain types of gifts that are received and/or recorded quarterly (i.e. Life Income, some corporate support). We also received a huge payment on a grant by this time last year, which we won’t get this year since it was the final payment on that particular grant. We are expecting at least as much grant funding as last year, if not more, but the schedule on grant payments varies by funder. So, this is not something that can or should be tracked daily, weekly or monthly.”
For the 2010 fiscal year, Oxy has fundraised about $2.7 million and McAdams expects to be well over that by Dec. 31, as December is the biggest month for charitable giving.Oxy’s operating budget includes monetary support from several limited sources. Although the vast bulk of the budget is based on net tuition revenue collection, other important sources include Annual Giving, the school’s endowment and auxiliary services.
Annual Giving includes all of the donated gifts from alumni, parents, staff, foundations, corporations and friends of the college.
Donations can take one of three different forms: restricted gifts that are given for a specific purpose or department, such as athletics or study abroad programs; unrestricted gifts, which are put into the operating budget and used for various college expenses; and endowment gifts, which are invested to generate more endowment income. The endowment returns also fund almost all of the school’s scholarships and financial aid.
The endowment is a large investment (most recently evaluated at $273.8 million) that supplies returns to the college for budgetary needs. It is the accumulation of 110 years worth of donations from alumni, parents, foundations and corporations, faculty and staff. Although the endowment decreased significantly, the economic downturn didn’t bring down Oxy’s investments as much as the investments at schools like Harvard with multi-billion dollar endowments.
Auxiliary services include the bookstore, student fees and other income-generating programs.
“Although faculty and staff didn’t get raises this year, we’re not facing layoffs, furloughs or massive budget cuts like many colleges and universities,” McAdams said. “Early indications are that we are on pace to have a successful fundraising year in ’09-’10.”
TeleFund, a student-led telephone program that raises money for the campus, has helped to counteract Oxy’s financial losses through donations from alumni and parents.
“This year, with a family of about 50 employees and six managers, we have raised upwards of $660,000 from thousands of loyal alumni [and parents],” said Evan Longmore (senior), a student manager at TeleFund. “Regardless of the recent slump of the economy, Occidental alumni still find that extra penny to contribute to the well-being of their Alma mater.”
According to Tranquada, thus far, TeleFund has raised more than $100,000 than it did in the same period of time last year.Another factor in Oxy’s optimistic outlook is the work being done by President Veitch to alleviate Oxy’s financial stresses. “President Veitch spends more than half of his time, directly or indirectly, on fundraising, and has a list of about a dozen projects that he is currently pursuing, including raising money for the renovation and expansion of Swan Hall and construction of a new swimming pool and two new tennis courts,” said Tranquada.
Tranquada and McAdams both said that Veitch has played an important role this semester and will continue to do so in the upcoming year.
“I’m encouraged by his enthusiasm for fundraising and he is very supportive of our operations,” said McAdams. “I get the impression that he considers himself to be Oxy’s chief development officer.”
Longmore said that Veitch has plans to work with TeleFund to discuss his goals for the future of fundraising at Oxy.With donations and gift rates rebounding along with the economy, Occidental College is looking to be on solid footing at the end of this fiscal year.
“[President Veitch] is optimistic about the College’s prospects. The Admission Office has done an outstanding job in recruiting students. Overall, Occidental has raised more than $100 million over the past five years, and we have a great story to tell,” Tranquada said.
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