The last three months have seen a rash of multi-million dollar donations endowing new academic centers, buildings and institutes for Dartmouth's undergraduate and graduate students and faculty.
The gifts come under the "silent phase" of Dartmouth's latest capital campaign, which the College has been operating since July 2002. To date, the campaign has raised $346 million, according to Vice President for Development Carrie Pelzel. The national campaign will officially begin in November, and contingent upon the Board of Trustees' approval at its September meeting, the College will set a fundraising goal of $1.3 billion.
According to Board Chair Susan Dentzer '77, most institutions tend to raise one- to two-thirds of their goal before the kickoff of the campaign.
"It raises spirits if the goal is seen as achievable," Dentzer said. "It sounds less daring if you're well on your way."
Raising spirits and seeming achievable will be an essential factor in the campaign, which aims to raise nearly double that of the last campaign, "Will to Excel," whose six-year run culminated in 1996.
The flagship gifts of the campaign to date include a $10 million gift from trustee-elect Charles Haldeman '70, which will name a new academic center at Dartmouth to house existing academic institutes. The Haldeman center will lie adjacent to another capital undertaking, Kemeny Hall, future home of the mathematics department. That building project recently received a $1 million grant from the Kresge Foundation, amounting to a total of $15.4 million secured for the facility.
A $3 million donation from Gordon Russell '55 will endow the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning, to be located in the Baker-Berry Library.
The largest gift to an academic program in the College's history was announced in March, when Trustee William Neukom '64 pledged $22 million toward creating an Institute of Computational Science. Another gift benefiting the sciences came from Barry MacLean '60 Th '61, who committed $15 million to name the long-planned Engineering Sciences Center on the Thayer School campus.
The College's ability to raise over $50 million in three short months has raised some eyebrows. But trustees and administrators maintain that the apparent windfall is a mere coincidence.
Dentzer remarked on the hard of work of many individuals in soliciting donations, not the least of whom, she said, is College President James Wright.
"The President had long conversations with every one of these donors, and did so for a long time," she said.
The "Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience" will be Wright's first capital campaign as president, and its success will be a critical factor in pursuing his priorities.
The recent flagship donations of the campaign, totaling $51 million since March, share two distinct patterns. Members of the President's Leadership Council, a group of alumni and parents Pelzel said are invited to learn "the strategic priorities of the College" and "serve as ambassadors of the College's mission," seem to have a connection to major giving. Moreover, two of the three largest donations, totaling $32 million, were contributed by Neukom and Haldeman, both charter trustees of the Board.
"It's typical of any campaign that the Board of Trustees and leadership constitute most of the donations during this phase of the campaign," Pelzel said.
When asked about the financial contributions by two members of her Board on the campaign, Dentzer said that Neukom and Haldeman were "first and foremost loyal alumni of the College."
"Their gifts are motivated 99 percent by their love and respect for the institution," Dentzer said. "It is also certainly true that when one is a trustee they come more aware of the needs of the College, and are drawn more deeply in the fabric of the institution."
For all of the success claimed by administrators and trustees, nearly half of the recent donations pledged to the College are contingent on challenges or assurances that other sums will be collected within a certain time frame. The Kresge grant is contingent on the College raising $11 million in 11 months. Neukom's gift comes with the challenge of raising an additional $12 million for the Computational Science institute. Pelzel said she remains assured that the College will raise the funds necessary to maintain the pledges.
Though it is expected that the official drive will last at least five years, its long-term vision and effects have been long in the planning.
According to Provost Barry Scherr, "Dartmouth simply didn't build as much as it should have in the last 20 years." Scherr said that the campaign will make available long-needed expansion projects and new gathering spaces, including residence halls and academic spaces.
One of the other patterns that has emerged from the recently announced gifts is their emphasis on the math and sciences, namely through the Kresge, MacLean and Neukom donations. Scherr suggested that Neukom's early and significant contribution benefiting the sciences fueled a succession of similar gifts, but said he expects gifts benefiting other departments throughout the campaign.
