November 10, 2003

Despite economy, donor support grows

A successful year of fundraising – highlighted by Angelo Tsakopoulos’ gift of the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection – brought in an estimated $17.3 million for CSUS in 2002-03.

That’s according to the annual report on external funding recently submitted to the CSU Chancellor’s Office.

The report says CSUS raised $12.6 million in “voluntary support,” which includes such things as cash, securities, in-kind donations and private grants. The University also raised $2.5 million through sponsorships and $2.2 million through endowments and other income.

The funds support everything from scholarships to facilities to research.

The voluntary support figure was by far the highest annual total for CSUS. In the prior academic year the University raised $5.5 million in voluntary support. The best previous year was 1992-93, when voluntary support was $8.6 million.

In addition, CSUS generates about $70 million in grants and contracts each year.

The fundraising success comes despite a bad economy that has many higher education institutions reporting a decline in giving.

RAND’s Council for Aid to Education says giving to colleges and universities dropped 1.2 percent in 2002 to $23.9 billion. That’s the first drop the group found in 15 years. And the annual “Giving USA” report by the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy shows a 1.1 percent decline in giving to education as a whole in 2002, the first annual decline that study has found since 1975.

In addition to the Tsakopoulos gift, recent CSUS fundraising highlights include:

• $2 million from an estate.
• An alumna pledge of an endowed chair in the College of Health and Human Services.
• Four bequests totaling nearly $2 million.
• Continued investment in the University’s athletics facilities by Alex G. Spanos, including a new scoreboard and fencing at Hornet Stadium.
• An increase of 60 percent in contributions to endowed scholarships.
• An increase to more than $3.1 million in corporate giving, with support coming from Intel, Sutter Health, Hewlett-Packard, Synopsis, Cadence Design System and others.
• Nearly $600,000 in foundation support, from such groups as the Ford, Stuart, Johnson, California Wellness, and California Endowment foundations.

The University’s support from the state’s general fund in 2002-03 was $195.8 million – including $42.4 million in student fees.

Outside funding is increasingly important to the University, especially as the state struggles with budget troubles. The oft-repeated phrase from CSU officials is that: “CSU campuses are now state-supported rather than state-funded institutions.”

Fundraising data from the CSU system as a whole has not yet been compiled. But fundraising has been on the rise at both the system and campus level.

The CSU system received a record $257.2 million in donations in 2001-02, up from $109.4 million 10 years before. Another $738.7 million came from other sources such as sponsorships, bequest expectancies, pledges, contracts, grants, property transfers and income from endowments, bringing total external support to $995.9 million. Since 1992, the CSU has raised nearly $2 billion in voluntary support and $4.6 billion in special revenue.

The CSUS external funding report recently submitted to the Chancellor’s Office is the same as reports sent in each year at this time from every CSU campus.

The Chancellor’s Office reviews the information provided by the campuses and typically makes some adjustments. A combined CSU system report on external funding is then presented early the following year at a Board of Trustees meeting.

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