Donations and pledges to UNC recover after economic slump

Private donations to universities are bouncing back this year even as the economic slump continues.

After a staggering drop in donations last year, UNC and schools across the country are seeing a recovery in gifts pledged to universities by alumni and other private donors.

The University has received nearly $54 million in donations since July, $8 million of which were new pledges, commitments to donate over time.

Those commitments helped increase donations by 16 percent compared to this time last year, making it the third-best fundraising year in UNC’s history for the donation period, said Elizabeth Dunn, senior associate vice chancellor for the development office, in an e-mail.

“It is possible that donors were having conversations about making gifts one or two years ago, and then found that their financial circumstances improved this year so that they could move ahead with their giving plans,” Dunn said.

Fewer people than expected deferred their pledge payments due to economic difficulties last year, Dunn said.

Duke University’s gifts also increased 15 percent from last year, which was one of the school’s worst recent years for fundraising.

Duke’s donations began recovering at the end of 2009, totalling $345 million by this summer.

The increase does not reflect a growing base of donors because, while the amount of money given increased, the total number of donors remained about the same, said William Conescu, development spokesman at Duke, in an e-mail.

But even with the increase, this year’s donations at Duke do not match those from before the economic crisis.

Now the university is hoping to attract more donors.

“I hear that donors are still cautious about making multi-year commitments, given the current economic environment,” Conescu said.

“But we’re hopeful that the giving totals will rise in the coming years,” he said.

The increase in Duke’s donations will help the university manage its plans to cut $100 million from its budget in three years.

But unlike many improving schools, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is suffering a decline in private giving since last year.

Judy Malcolm, spokeswoman for the development office at Michigan, said the influx of gifts has slowed even though the school is still receiving payments from pledges made during the campaign.

“It could be that the economy is still affecting people,” she said.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.