Dartmouth is quietly gearing up for a six to seven year capital fund campaign, but its decision to hire additional development office staff to prepare for the campaign has been met with criticism from some faculty and students.
Catherine McGrath, Associate Vice President for Planning and Operations, explained the difference between regular fund-raising and fund-raising for a capital campaign by saying that capital fund drives tend to be directed toward more clearly defined goals than general fund-raising is. The differences between capital campaigns and ordinary fund raising are often blurred in practice, though.
These priorities, outlined in Dartmouth's strategic plan, reflect a broad range of goals addressing financial aid, maintenance of facilities, faculty development and compensation and the need to increase opportunities for faculty and student research.
Currently, Dartmouth is in the so-called "quiet phase" of the campaign, which will last for approximately two years, McGrath said.
During the course of these two years, Dartmouth will clarify and establish priorities and try to understand how best to reach its donors, McGrath said.
Typically, during the quiet phase of capital campaigns, Dartmouth tries to raise about 30 to 40 percent of its total goal for the campaign.
According to McGrath, Dartmouth's current fund-raising goal is $1 billion, although that amount could change as the campaign progresses.
McGrath described the timeliness of the campaign in light of Dartmouth's recent budget cuts, noting the "importance of philanthropy, now more than ever."
Because the College uses only the income from endowment gifts and never the principal, any new donations to the endowment will not translate in to usable income for some time to come, according to Adam Keller, Vice President for Planning and Operations.
However, not all new donations would be for the endowment.
The Development Office's hiring a number of people to assist with fundraising effort has concerned some faculty and students in light of the recent budget cuts.
Hoyt Alverson,anthropology department chair, noted in a recent open letter to President of the College James Wright that, while Dartmouth's total expenses have risen by 29.7 percent since 1999, spending on non-faculty salaries has risen by 40.2 percent.
Alverson learned from the Provost's Office that much of the additional $10 to $15 million spent on non-faculty salaries went to the Development Office to hire employees for the capital campaign.
McGrath confirmed that the Development Office has "grown in anticipation of the fund-raising effort" but would not specify how much it has grown. She cited an office policy not to discuss personnel matters.
Alverson noted that, were Dartmouth a public institution, all such figures would be part of the public record. He hoped that Dartmouth would release such figures in order to facilitate "intelligent conversation" about the budget situation.
In his open letter to Wright, Alverson suggested that, as a "bridging measure in the very short term," the College could borrow money to cover the start-up operating costs of the capital campaign.
Alverson said that his proposal was recently brought up before the Trustees, but they declined to implement it. He does not know why.
He also said he was disappointed that faculty had no opportunities to offer their opinions to the Trustees before they voted down his proposal.
Alverson has received several dozen responses to his open letter to Wright, most from other faculty, nearly all of which have been "extremely positive." Many also expressed surprise that information contained within the letter had not been made public earlier.
The Development Office uses various methods to raise money for the capital campaign, including personal and phone contact with potential donors and use of a group of student volunteers called Green Corps, Walker and McGrath said.
Because capital campaigns frequently take years from start to completion, often little time elapses between the end of one capital campaign and the beginning of a quiet phase of another, a phenomenon which is industry wide, McGrath said.
Decades ago, Dartmouth conducted fewer capital campaigns, according to McGrath.
Fewer philanthropic institutions then existed and so there was less competition to attract donors, she said.
