Stanford University became the first institution ever to raise over $1 billion in a single year, a nonprofit announced this week.
The Council for Aid to Education said that Stanford has been the top fundraising institution for 14 out of the last 30 years.
A total of $31 billion was raised by colleges and universities in the United States, a 2.3 percent increase from 2011 that they say is only slightly ahead of inflation, according to the national Voluntary Support of Education survey. This total is barely less than the $31.6 billion raised in 2008, which was the highest donation rate ever recorded.
The $1.035 billion raised in 2012 marks the eighth straight year that Stanford has been the top fundraising university in the nation. According to the survey, the donations raised by Stanford equal approximately $55,745 per student.
A Stanford press release issued in October says that nearly 79,000 donors contributed to this total dollar amount during the 2011-2012 fiscal year. This record-breaking number represents a 45.9 percent increase over fiscal year 2010-2011.
The year in which these donations were recorded included two major campaigns: The Stanford Challenge, aiming for new models of research and teaching, and the Campaign for Stanford Medicine, which includes the construction of a new Stanford hospital, among other things.
“We see this as an extraordinary endorsement of the vision and the strength of Stanford’s leadership and direction,” said Martin Shell, vice president for development in a statement. “These gifts are investments in the future and the role that Stanford is playing in educating the next generation of global leaders and in helping to solve some of the world’s most challenging issues.”
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Shell attributed much of the success of Stanford’s fundraising over the last year to these two major campaigns, and said that the university will remain mindful to the promise behind these fundraisers.
