Private support records

For more information, contact Toni Searle, 216-368-4443 or amf2@po.cwru.edu.

Posted 9-9-98

Private support sets a dozen records

Case Western Reserve University's support from private sources notched a dozen records in the 1997-98 academic year. Private support includes new cash or cash-equivalent gifts, as well as that year's payments on previous pledges.

Overall private support reached $86.5 million -- 15 percent more than the $75.3 million received during the previous academic year, and 12 percent more than the previous record of $77.0 million set in 1993-94 at the conclusion of the Campaign for CWRU.

"It's not just that it's a large amount of money. It's the impact it has on this University," said Bruce Loessin, vice president for development and alumni affairs. "This money hits like a freight train," since this is a private research university that is not large in size. He added that this makes money available quickly to support a variety of programs that benefit the campus community.

Four schools set new records in their private support last year:

The School of Medicine received $29.2 million (up from $21.1 million in 1996-97)
The College of Arts and Sciences received $15.3 million (up from $13.4 million)
The School of Nursing received $6.0 million (up from $2.7 million)
The Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences received $3.7 million (up from $2.3 million)

Giving to the College of Arts and Sciences is up approximately 150 percent since John Bassett became dean in 1993, according to Loessin. The college's average annual support held steady at $3.7 million from 1987-92, but annual support has climbed to an average of $9.4 million since 1993."That's really amazing," Loessin said.

For the first time ever, alumni became the largest source of CWRU's private support. Alumni contributed at a record level -- nearly $27.4 million -- surpassing the previous record of $20.2 million in 1993-94.

"This is a very healthy sign," said Susan Jaros, associate vice president for development and alumni affairs. Nine different alumni made contributions of more than $1 million, she added.

Foundations remained a significant source of private support in 1997-98, contributing $25.1 million. Other sources were friends ($12.4 million), associations ($8.8 million), corporations ($6.9 million), and the Case Alumni Association ($2.8 million).

CWRU's private support by source
SOURCE	1997-98	1996-97
Alumni	$27,353,992.35	$15,069,517.97
Corporations	$6,919,753.37	$6,119,137.61
Foundations	$25,117,378.83	$26,528,136.81
Trustees	$3,040,181.23	$1,893,445.61
Friends	$12,425,623.49	$15,682,131.62
Associations	$8,844,005.66	$5,904,158.68
Subtotal	$83,700,934.93	$71,196,528.30

Case Alumni Association
Case Fund	$1,300,527.00	$1,225,899.00
Other gifts	$1,504,063.00	$2,853,748.00

TOTAL	$86,505,524.93	$75,276,175.30

Source: Office of Development and Alumni Affairs

Private support broke the record for highest attainment in a month twice during the past academic year. The new record of $17.0 million from June beat the previous record of $16.4 million set in December 1997.

CWRU's private support in 1997-98 set several other records:

Highest endowment attainment for designated gifts: $25.5 million (surpassing the record of $21.2 million from 1993-94)
Highest annual fund attainment: $5.2 million (surpassing $4.9 million in 1996-97)
Highest contributions from trustees: $3.0 million
Most new endowed chairs created in one year: 13 (bringing the total number of endowed chairs to 149)

Another 1997-98 record is the $18.4 million received from planned gifts. This includes a multimillion-dollar estate gift to the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing from Sarah C. Hirsh, a 1945 alumna of the school.

About two-thirds of last year's planned giving support came through bequests received from estates, and the remainder came from life income plans, according to James Conway, associate vice president of endowment and CWRU's Futures Program.

Through life income plans, benefactors set up a trust from which they receive investment income for a set term or for the rest of their lives, after which the University uses the trust fund principal to set up an endowment fund in the donor's family name.

When CWRU's Futures Program began in 1972, the University's endowment was approximately $80 million, with about 380 specific endowment funds. Since then, Conway added, CWRU's endowment has risen to more than $1.2 billion and more than 1,700 endowment funds.

CWRU is among the top U.S. universities in both overall private support and endowment funds raised per student, Loessin said.

-CWRU-