2009 donations decline at MSU, across country
By: Zane McMillin
Donations to MSU in 2009 fell 4 percent from the previous year, but the drop was lower than the Big Ten average, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The report, released by the Council for Aid to Education, or CAE, found the national average in giving decreased 12 percent between July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009. The Big Ten averaged about a 10 percent decrease. More than 1,000 institutions participated in the survey.
MSU placed fifth in the Big Ten in terms of percentage change. According to the survey, the university raised about $122.7 million in donations from individuals, corporations and other sources for the 2009 fiscal year. The university raised about $128.1 million in 2008.
Bob Groves, MSU’s vice president for university advancement, said MSU officials were aware of how many donations the university received in 2009 and that the survey provides MSU with an opportunity to make comparisons nationwide.
He said although MSU experienced a drop less than the national average, the survey’s results surprised him.
“We knew our numbers, but I think I was surprised that the numbers were down so severely across the country,” Groves said. “It gives us a better benchmark of what’s happening at other institutions.”
The top two Big Ten schools, — the University of Illinois (3.7 percent) and Penn State University (2.7 percent) — experienced an increase in donations from 2008-09.
Purdue University’s donations remained almost equal between the two years, decreasing only 0.1 percent.
Indiana University (-39.4 percent), the University of Michigan (-21 percent) and the University of Wisconsin (-16.7 percent) had the largest decreases in the Big Ten.
MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said MSU places a high priority on raising donations and she is pleased with the university’s showing.
“The raising of external dollars is a very important priority for the university and our goal is to raise more money each year than the year before,” Simon said.
Groves said it is too early to tell what MSU can expect in the year ahead as far as donations.
However, he said numbers tallied last month indicated donations were up slightly compared to the year prior.
“Through the end of December, we were actually up a little bit,” Groves said. “I think there has been somewhat of an improvement in the stock market since last spring, so that has been helpful.”
MSU Trustee Faylene Owen, chairwoman of the MSU Board of Trustees finance committee, said although donations declined in 2009, the small percentage decrease shows the university still has many supporters.
“I believe that our supporters will continue to value Michigan State and will do so in increasing numbers,” Owen said in an e-mail.
Groves said the fundraising process is “a never-ending job.”
He said MSU continues to use tactics, such as phone calls to alumni, to maintain donations to the university.
“Part of our challenge is, despite the economy … we don’t slow down in our efforts,” Groves said. “We are doing everything we can to try to maintain and increase that support.”
02/04/10 @ 3:44am
If you think the donations looked bleak for 2009, wait until all the ticked off MSU alumns quit donating to the University because the athletic department wants to sell our identity to Nike. The new logo sucks. Don’t mess with tradition.
02/04/10 @ 8:18am
Forget the percentage change… we still have the 2nd lowest ammual amount in the Big 10.
02/04/10 @ 8:18am
*annual
02/04/10 @ 8:52am
I don’t know why it’s being spun like decreasing 5% is okay.
We have 45,000 students and our donations/endowment is tiny when compared to our alumni size.
02/04/10 @ 9:07am
This reflects the fact that MSU students and alums are less wealthy than their counterparts at other Big 10 universities, especially U of M, Penn State, and Northwestern.
MSU actually has some genuine economic diversity among its students, not to mention the highest rates of minority enrollment in the Big 10.
All these big universities pay lip service to building “a diverse student body,” but MSU actually delivers.
I’m a lot prouder about that than I am about the size of the endowment.
02/04/10 @ 9:45am
Amen, Aaron, it’s frustrating. Once again we’re one of the biggest schools from the poorest states and, yet, our fund raising is 2nd from the bottom of the Big 11…
Lucius, you’re all wet… MSU students and alums are as wealthy as most any school; esp in the Big 10 (11)… Do you forget the $1.4B Capital campaign we had a few years ago; becoming only the 3rd public U (w/ Purdue and Berkeley) to raise over $1B w/o an on-campus research medical hospital… How would a school with a bunch of poor alums pull that off. THINK Lucius, before you spout.
Fact is, MSU has been lax in fundraising. We’re a great school but in the pioneer land grant/John Hannah mode of being dependent on the Govt dole… McPherson — though politically he’s not my cup of tea — to his credit, was a businessman who was big on private fund-raising and MSU never raised more private $$ than under his tenure.
02/04/10 @ 10:13am
I really want to see some movement out of Pres. Simon. Everybody is sing her praises after FRIB, but really that was in the works long before she took office… We hired this U-M fundraiser guy who, … because he was from U-M … was supposed to really bring cash into the coffers… I’m not seeing anything. That we’re at the bottom just above little, lower-rated Iowa tells you that the Aministration isn’t doing its job. This state is too poor and financial spigot from the capital has been steadily turned off by Grandholm… NOW IS THE TIME this school should be working overtime to raise private monies. Instead, all we’re getting from the Simon Admin. is holding on for dear life while closing one academic program after another…
At Michigan State University, we damn sure should expect more!
02/04/10 @ 10:21am
The Capital Campaign was a proud achievement, but with a closer look at the numbers (and a bit of statistics 101) you’ll see that half of that came from just 100 donors making contributions of $1 million or more — people who are economic outliers. It’s no surprise that among hundreds of thousands MSU alums, there are 100 people capable of making donations of a million bucks — but that doesn’t tell us anything significant about the median wealth of all alums.
02/04/10 @ 11:05am
Generally speaking and basing my assumptions nothing, I would say we have an “average” student body and incomes. The top two are probably Northwestern and Michigan, the other nine of us being normal. But I digress…
We brought in a new fundraiser and all we get are these crappy commercials, which despite their superficial natural, are extremely important to fund raising. See: The Michigan Difference campaign and their commercials/campaign. It would be nice to see a decent commercial for our school instead of a falling leaf on the block S.
02/04/10 @ 11:10am
So Lucius, what do you base your brilliant deduction that MSU students and alums are so much poorer… than those of (land grant) Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State (long viewed as the home of middle and working class Ohioans? Isn’t it just some bromide you picked up from U-M and made it into a fact? I used to work in admissions with MSU and I know where students come from and what alumni do (for a living, as we used a lot of alumni recruiters)… I know for a fact that MSU’s private wealth isn’t in the hands of 100 alums capable of donating a million bucks. I’ve traveled around the country to alum fundraising events, and frankly (being somewhat of your mindset previously) surprised at just how many well off alums MSU has, esp given its land grant A & M roots…
Our upwardly mobile alumni is one of the reason why MSU, sports-wise, is one of best “traveling” sports teams, meaning our teams are well supported by local alumni wherever our teams travel, which is why the Spartans are always attractive to Bowl committees. We’re a dominant force in such places as Chicago, Southern Cal, D.C. and Florida … to name a few… If we were as poor as you say we were, we’d be confined to low paying jobs mainly in Michigan…
Really Lucious, you don’t have a clue.
02/04/10 @ 11:16am
Anon, very incite-ful on your part. Those commercials are a reflection of MSU. Not only is the one (the “Green” commercial) crappy, it hasn’t been changed for over a year. It makes us look lazy and non-aggressive. Other college commercials make their schools looking interesting and attractive places to be (and to give to).
And perhaps the most disturbing thing, re the fundraising drop noted in the article, is that Simon is “pleased” with where we’re at… It’s very disturbing to me (and should be for all of us) that our leadership seems to have ingrained such low expectations for MSU…
… and to think, ironically, the ONLY area where we’ve moved up to near the top of the Big 10… SIMON’S SALARY!!!!!
02/04/10 @ 11:43am
The fact that MSU sports teams enjoy fan support across the country tells us that 1) MSU has many, many alums, and 2) a significant portion live in other parts of the country. It’s doesn’t say anything about whether or not they’re “upwardly mobile.” One of my roommates is from Pittsburgh and she tells me you’ll find stadiums packed with former Pittsburghers at Steeler games all across the country. That’s evidence of Pittsburgh’s job losses, not evidence that being from Pittsburgh makes you upwardly mobile.
I take you at your word if you say you met lots of affluent alums across the country, but that’s still basically anecdotal evidence, esp. when you’re talking about a pool of hudreds of thousands (millions?) of people.
More reliable indicators are the rates of student loan debt, students who work part/full-time, and entrance requirements (since wealth and academic measurements are closely correlated). All those suggests that MSU has a more diverse student body, socio-economically speaking.
To me, that’s the core value of our land grant mission. Raising money is important as well, but you need to see it in a larger context.
02/04/10 @ 1:06pm
Lucius,
let’s not go to the other extreme. I am NOT saying that MSU alums are some hoity-toity, country club polo set — we are very diverse, no doubt. I’m just reacting to your original premise — which I know to be absurd: that MSU fundraising is weak because alums are generally poor (relative to the Big 10, in this case).
Also, your comparison about Steelers’ fans is bogus. A fan is different from an alumnus, who have a paid, vested interest in the school; people who paid money and traveled to attend… The fact that significant pockets of MSU students are in different parts of the country is a lot more than us being big. University of Maryland, in fact is BIG like us, but their alumni are not nearly as widely spread (in significant number like ours); and keep in mind, U.Md has the added lure of studying in the Nation’s Capital; a few Metro stops from one of America’s most exciting cities — MSU is, well, just outside Lansing. People seek us out and come from across the State, across the country and the world (we have one of the higher international enrollments, too)… The fact so many alums are found in such diverse places, is because: a) they had some money to begin with, and/or b) their MSU education/degree unlocked professional opportunity for them… the latter being the case since this school opened as an agricultural college and why it’s considered the “pioneer land grant college.”
02/04/10 @ 1:06pm
I actually work with MSU’s telemarketing program and I can tell you that these numbers are misleading. A nearly identical article appeared in the LSJ and we had several major donors bring it up on the phone and were angry about it — believing we were lying when we told them how behind we REALLY are.
The numbers that were reported were from LAST fiscal year and, aside from that, don’t really explain where they come from. In terms of collecting donations over the phone, our numbers are WAY down – more like in the teens or above percentage wise. Alumni that give major dollars don’t generally STOP doing that in times like these because they can still afford it. It’s the smaller donors (100, 50, 25) who aren’t giving anymore. And those are the alumni we come into contact with. I think it’s very irresponsible to print something like this because although a 4% decrease isn’t great, it’s not that terrible – in comparison to the numbers we’re communicating directly to alumni on the phones. They’re starting to doubt just how much we really NEED their support.
02/04/10 @ 2:34pm
Maybe the Unviersity should have been a little more proactivve after April 2005.
02/04/10 @ 2:50pm
Maybe I’m wrong, but hasn’t Simon raised way more than McPherson ever did?
When she came in, MSU’s endowment was under 1 billion. Now it’s what? One and a half?
Just wondering…
02/04/10 @ 3:29pm
^Actually, that’s incorrect Hmmm.
Without researching specifics, the Capital Campaign was started under McPherson in about 2000, w/ a goal of raising $1B and ended in about 2006 or 7 with $1.4B… about $400K was earmarked for endowment, which boosted us to about $1.3B, but the credit crisis of 2008 reduced us to just over $1B. A new fundraiser came in and took over for alumnus Chuck Webb — this new guy had done similar work for U-M’s Michigan Difference campaign… So far he’s been more hype and less action, from my vantage point…
Like I said before, I’m not McPherson fan personally or politically (like when the woman (women?) were strip searched at Linton Hall after the powder scare and McPherson barely gave a slap on the wrist) …
… but financing-wise, McPherson accomplished more than any MSU president I’m aware of… Simon clearly hasn’t measured up (even though she was provost during his admin)…
02/04/10 @ 7:35pm
i am glad to see a lot of comments on this page. i think it’s good that some students are taking an interest in these numbers. i agree with most of the posts here: we need to be higher, not necessarily up with nwu or umich, but we should at least be aiming for osu and psu.
02/04/10 @ 7:54pm
I think everybody here is a little too biased.
1. The wealth of the students is not very correlated too the jobs they find and their income after college. In fact, some of the studies about this put MSU above of the national average and in the upper tier nationally. So, this problem isn’t really about lack of affluent alumni.
2. My last point gets me to this point: it’s not really about amounts but about participation. Right now, since donations are somewhat restricted, the development and alumni divisions have been in the works to increase the participation of alumni in University-related activities, like the alumni membership.
3. There have been tremendous improvement in the development and alumni divisions. They have been reorganized and they know function under the umbrella of Robert Groves, who comes from the UM campaign and now is the VP for Advancement at MSU. This will help create better coordination and planning among both branches.
4. I would like to correct Townsend here. Yes, Groves comes from UM but he was hired at MSU for a reason: He has tremendous experience in medical philanthropy and has worked at many Big Ten universities. Besides having worked at the incredible campaign at UM, Groves did a great job at Minnesota and their efforts to improve their medical schools. Similarly, MSU is now developing the medical schools and creating a more research oriented atmosphere to attract additional funding.
5. People want to ‘see’ more actions by our leaders, but the fact is that I prefer to not see actions and see results. My point is that most of these issues related with development are worked out ‘behind the scenes’ in alumni events and things of that nature that most of the time are for a selected group of people. This is why the University is urging alumni to get the membership from the association and be more proactive in their involvement.
6. Many criticize that we are behind many Big Ten universities but they forget about the historical records of MSU in philanthropy. Specifically, I would say that since McPherson started the Capital Campaign in 2000 very, very, little attention had been given to this issue. Today, I am very proud of Pres. Simon and our leaders of the aggressiveness with which they are addressing development. I think that the 2000-2007 capital campaign was the first University-wide campaign with such high aspirations. Meanwhile, other Big Ten universities, like UM, have had multiple campaigns.
7. I believe that the current economic problems and the arrival of Pres. Simon, Prov. Wilcox and others to the MSU administration is the best that has happened to this University in the history of the institution. Why? Well, the tough economic circumstances have forced the administration, once in for all, to stop relying on public funds. The current MSU administration has been essential because, instead of arguing for more state funds, they have used this opportunity as the catalyst to really improve and put the advancement mentality in place.
8. From my last point, this issue is really about mentality. That is why many times we see our leaders refer to development as a ‘culture.’ Development is a mentality that has to be in place so the University can take advantage of the culture and give the programs the resources they need. This is why increased participation is also needed. The more alumni and friends participate, with high or low amounts, the more successful the University will be. Another important aspect of this is that it’s not always about donations, but it also is about being an ambassador and a good representative of the University. If you keep that in mind you look to advance the University from your career and personal stand point.
Well, I think I’ve covered the most important issues. The most important one being that there has never been a point in the history of Michigan State University when the University has had a more committed leadership and administrators than today. This may be because necessity is the mother of innovation. But, whatever the reason, the culture is changing and I don’t see MSU looking back. The future is incredibly bright for the Spartans.
02/04/10 @ 9:35pm
I’m allowing Nike to pick up my contribution this year.
02/05/10 @ 2:32pm
“I think everybody here is a little too biased.”
THIS, from our resident MSU cheerleader?
TOO FUNNY!
Hon, when it comes to money and fundraising, it’s ALWAYS about the amount.
02/05/10 @ 6:29pm
Thats because they don’t even try to get individual donations from the alumni!!!! I tried to donate, and I was blown off, and the treatment I got from the people who ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BRINGING IN MONEY FOR THE UNIVERSITY, made me NEVER WANT TO DONATE. I work in marketing, and ours is a joke. It makes me sick, cause I love MSU, and I want to be involved, but this doesn’t surprise me. The way things are being run down there is a frigging joke. Its a disgrace, and somebody ought to do an overhaul, and put some people that know how to sell in there. Its a joke. A complete joke. It should be one of the number 1 things on the schools agenda, especially in these tough times. It makes me sick.
02/05/10 @ 6:35pm
Fire everybody down there that isn’t bringing in a significant amount of money, and hire young motivated people who will actually do their job. Don’t turn away prospective long-term donors and alumni, and work on getting every friggin cent you can get. Here’s a free clue for the morons who work on this…….try making some incentives!!!!!!!!!! If you are notwilling to donate 10,000 they won’t spit on you if you’re on FIRE! You’re gonna find 20 people willing to give $500, before you find one guy with 10 grand to donate, who gets a a little 50 cent bag full of cheap crap for the donation. ITS A JOKE! Get a clue. Man, I am glad to see this article.
02/07/10 @ 12:20am
Our football and basketball teams are doing well, yet we still have a decline in donations?!?
Why is that? Obviously you don’t know how to get donations. Obviously, you FAIL at bringing money in. Fire the hacks that are causing the problem! If an alumnus wants to donate……LET THEM, do whatever you got to do to get them to give MONEY! I don’t care how much it is. Go ahead. Call the Alumni Association, call ANYBODY up there and ask about donating. DO IT. Don’t take my word for it, try it yourself. You will see why we are going down. We should be going up with what Dantonio has done in the last 3 years, on top of what Izzo has done. Thats a staffing issue. Not the economy. Not the income level of graduates. Its the people who are getting paid by the university to bring in donations. FIRE EM!
02/10/10 @ 7:36am
What do you expect. When they have insular and arrogant folks like Karyll Shaw and Elvin Lashbrook running important parts of the university like the business school. Certain university officials are just lazy.