PJ Online: Fundraising: Duke University announces $1.5 billion capital campaign

October 3, 1998

Duke University announces $1.5 billion capital campaign

By Emily Brewer
DURHAM, N.C.

Duke University's board of trustees today formally approved a five-year $1.5 billion capital campaign, the largest fundraising endeavor by a university in the South.

The Campaign For Duke has raised $684 million since the beginning of its silent phase in 1996, including the recent $20 million scholarship grant from billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda French Gates.

The campaign's success so far has university officials confident they can raise the target amount.

Forty-four percent of the campaign total - $662 million - will go into the university's endowment. Duke's $1.1 billion endowment ranked 24th among all schools in the nation last year.

"We can clearly see a gap between what we are accomplishing today to what we could be accomplishing in the future," says Duke President Nannerl Keohane. "Compared to the schools we compete with every day - for students and for professors - in terms of our endowment, we are significantly smaller."

Keohane has been devoting at least one-third of her time to fundraising activities for the university, and may devote more time now that the campaign is public, she says.

Duke has the equivalent of 90 full-time staff members from among its various colleges working on the campaign, says Robert Shepard, associate vice president and executive director of university development. The campaign is expected to cost the university $2 million a year, Shepard says. Universities typically spend eight to nine cents of every campaign dollar earned raising money, he says.

Despite the uncertain stock market and competition among schools for large donor dollars, Duke officials are confident they can reach their goal.

Fundraising campaigns historically have proven to be largely unaffected by economic downturns, says John Piva Jr., senior vice president for alumni affairs and development.

The campaign already has collected $540 million from its pledges, though Piva says payout may slow down if the economy sours.

Peter and Virginia Nicholas, who gave the university $20 million in 1995 to build the Nicholas School of the Environment, will serve as co-chairs of the campaign.

Shepard says he expects more gifts of $1 million or more.

"There has not been a successful billion dollar campaign which has received less than 50 percent of its goal from $1 million gifts," he says.

The university's Annual Fund seeks to gather $100 million in unrestricted gifts over the course of the campaign. The figure is included in the $1.5 billion amount, says Shepard. The campaign total does not include government research grants.

Breaking it down

The following is a breakdown of what the school hopes to distribute to each of its departments through the campaign. These figures include money for recruitment, scholarships, academic programs, research programs, building and renovations and endowment support.

Duke University Medical Center: $550 million

Arts and Sciences and Trinity College: $325 million

University-wide initiatives: $280 million

Intercollegiate athletics: $65 million

Fuqua School of Business: $60 million

Nicholas School of the Environment: $55 million

School of Engineering: $50 million

School of Law: $50 million

Divinity School: $35 million

University libraries: $30 million

The campaign's priorities, not divided by school or department, are as follows:

Attracting and supporting the best students: $249 million