Voluntary support of U.S. higher education institutions jumped by 12.5%, reaching $59.5 billion, for the year ending June 30, 2022. The increase included an additional $6.6 billion in funds compared to the previous year’s level, according to new data from the Washington, D.C.-based Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
The increase includes data from new institutions being included in CASE’s survey. Year-over-year support for the 781 institutions reporting both in FY 2021 and FY2022 increased 11%. But, the largesse was not spread evenly: Two-thirds of the respondents offering data reported charitable giving totals increased by an average 25.7%, while giving dropped by 20.6% among the third that experienced declines, according to the United States-focused version of CASE Insights on Voluntary Support of Education.
The growth came from all sources, albeit disproportionately. Organizational support grew by 14.6%, alumni donations increased by 10.2% and non-alumni increased their support by 8%. While actual-dollar support for both current operations and capital purposes increased (by 6% and 22.6%), the year’s high inflation took its toll. Adjusted for inflation, support for capital purposes rose by 14.1% while funding for current operations slipped by 1.3%.
Gifts made toward current operations were most likely to support research (29.9%), followed by miscellaneous restricted purposes (27.1%), academic divisions (21.7%) and student financial aid (10.3%), with the rest going toward athletics, faculty and staff compensation and student life. Restricted endowment gifts were most likely to favor student financial aid (40.1%), followed by miscellaneous restricted purposes (20.3%), academic divisions (15.7%) and faculty and staff compensation (14.9%).
Overall, public academic institutions with multiple campuses saw the highest average donation amounts, with schools in this category averaging $283,053. Research and doctoral-focused institutions realized average aggregated donations of nearly $121,000, while specialized schools reported average aggregated donations of $62,549. These institutions were followed by baccalaureate schools ($19,330) and master’s ($9,372). All of these per-institution averages represent growth from FY 2021. The only type of institutions to experience declines were associate’s programs, which saw average aggregated donations drop by 15.4%.
Most types of academic institutions saw increases in contributions, although as the report author noted, “many of these institutions received gifts of unprecedented value from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in FY 2021.” Since 2019, the number of gifts in excess of $100 million has fluctuated between seven and nine. FY 2022 was on the low end of this, with seven total gifts bringing $1.08 billion to various institutions. That total made up 1.8% of all support, which was the lowest percentage within that four-year period.
Institutions looking to cultivate funders will need a large helping of patience. Only 1.5% of all dollars raised during FY 2022 came from individuals who had graduated within the previous ten years. That percentage rose in direct correlation with funders’ ages. Those who had graduated between 11 and 20 years previously gave 4.7% while those graduating between 21 and 30 years previously contributed 8.1%.
Giving spiked among those who were at least 30 years removed from their institutions, with those who had graduated between 31 and 40 years previously providing 20.8% of funds, those who had graduated between 41 and 50 years previously giving 22.2% of funds and those who had graduated more than 50 years prior offering 37.8%. Five percent of donations came from non-degreed individuals.
In addition to its focus on academic institutions within the United States, CASE also surveys trends within Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and releases the data in a variety of formats. A full copy of the U.S. report is available here: https://bit.ly/3JrR3MM
