Despite the recent declaration by economic researchers that the U.S. economy is in a recession, Penn State's Grand Destiny Campaign is steadily making its way toward its $1.3 billion goal.
The campaign, a seven-year fund-raising project scheduled to end in 2003, is currently at 81 percent of its total and 77 percent of the way through the scheduled time to meet the goal. Originally, the goal was set for $1 billion, a level that has already been reached, but the extended amount was added in part to fund renovations and construction of new campus buildings.
"There's a lot of statistical data to indicate that, going back to 1950, giving in this country has not been impacted by recessions," said Rodney Kirsch, vice president for development and alumni relations.
Mike Bezilla, director of university relations, said accommodations for national economic trends were built into the Grand Destiny strategy.
"I think the organizers of any campaign that goes seven years realistically expect some ups and downs in the economy," he said. "We were very fortunate of course to have some strong years early in the campaign."
At the end of this month, the campaign will have amassed over $1.06 billion.
All philanthropic donations that come to Penn State go toward the campaign totals, and depending on the way the money is given, some of it can be put to use immediately.
Bezilla said the campaign takes pride in the variety of types of donations it accepts. "We allow great flexibility in how our donors can designate their gift," he said.
Donors can earmark gifts to certain projects or give for general use "wherever the need is greatest." Endowments, which are gifts the university invests and then uses the returns for a specific purpose, make up almost half of donations given.
"Most people don't really know exactly how an endowment works," Bezilla said. "It can be easier and more convenient than some people realize."
He said one part of the Grand Destiny campaign is working to educate alumni and friends of the university on how they can donate through endowments and pledges over time.
Although the effort began in 1996, the campaign did not "go public" until 1999, after some donations had been privately solicited to start its momentum. At that point, many alumni began to make their donations. The most current statistics available, Bezilla said, list Penn State as having the largest number of alumni donors in the nation.
According to the President's Report on Philanthropy, a book that goes out to all donors of $1,000 or more, more than 110,000 friends and alumni gave to the university in the 2000 to 2001 donation cycle.
Some visible results of the campaign have been the new Hintz Family Alumni Center and the renovations to Beaver Stadium. The construction of the new Life Sciences, Chemistry and Information Sciences and Technology buildings, as well as the upcoming Food Science and University Creamery attached building, is also partly funded by donations. A focus is on "bricks and mortar" donations, or cash amounts that can go directly to the progress of construction of new university facilities.
The less noticeable results of the campaign usually come from endowed scholarships, some of which are effective immediately. "The most successful part of the campaign to date has been money for undergraduate scholarships," Kirsch said.
"In the College of the Liberal Arts, when the campaign started, we had about $75,000 each year," he said. "They now, as a college, are giving out over $300,000 a year in scholarship support."
