Where would higher education be without donations?
That could be a rhetorical question.
In other words, it's assumed every year that colleges and universities will get large donations from alumni, business and industry. That money goes toward things like research, new buildings, programs and scholarships.
But in Utah, it's a question that takes on a certain resonance when you consider that for the past three years the state hasn't funded new student enrollment at its public colleges and universities.
Enter those budget shortfalls and universities begin scrambling to figure out how to give professors a raise so they don't leave for a better offer. They scramble to make improvements to their campuses without relying on already scarce state funds.
"It's crucial," said Cecelia Foxley, who Monday ended her 10-year role as the Utah commissioner of higher education. "It's just becoming an increasingly more and more important part of a president's role in terms of raising external money."
There's more to it than knocking on doors or making phone calls. "It's friend raising as well as fund raising," Foxley said. "It's keeping your alumni connected to your institutions. It is reaching out in all kinds of ways."
If the Legislature could be as generous as donors, Foxley said Utah would be top in every type of institution in the country.
That's not to say the state has been purposefully stingy.
Lawmakers do what they can, with state funding rising from $478 million in 1993-1994 to $644 million in 2003-2004. And a third of the $1.6 billion colleges have spent over the past 11 years on capital projects has come from state coffers.
Recently, the Utah Board of Regents approved colleges' request for a 3 percent salary hike for staff and faculty and a 4.5 percent tuition increase.
Still, Utah's 10 public colleges and universities are looking at more than $40 million in budget shortfalls because the state hasn't been funding student growth, which has repercussions throughout a school's budget.
Time to hit the street, literally.
At Snow College, for example, President Michael Benson ran a marathon to raise $50,000 to go toward scholarships and to fix a broken scoreboard and sound system.
That's a bit extreme.
Other schools are more of a money magnet and don't need their presidents to bust a lung in the process. Take the University of Utah.
For fiscal year 2003, the U. brought in an estimated $132 million in non-state, non-federal contributions. In accountant-speak, that's a lot of gifts, contributions, grants and additions to permanent endowments. It's also the third highest single-year fund-raising effort in the school's history.
Overall, the Utah System of Higher Education lists the state's three smallest schools — College of Eastern Utah, Dixie State College and Snow College — as getting the least in private donations. Utah State University and Weber State University fall in line behind the U.
In fact, the U. is consistently in the top 16 of more than 100 of the country's public universities in terms of fund raising every year, according to Mike Mattsson, vice president for development at the U.
But the U. is unique altogether in the state system.
Consider that total revenues for FY 2002 were more than $1.6 billion. Then right away subtract over $840 million in revenue brought in by the U. Hospital, another $237 million in state appropriations and $96 million from tuition and fees.
The U. has a host of other revenue sources, but the private donations are nonetheless tantamount to getting things done.
Case in point, the John A. Moran Eye Center project. The U. needs a new center, but until recently was $12 million short. In stepped Sam and Aline Skaggs and their ALSAM Foundation last week to kick in $10 million.
Combine that with other $1 million to $3 million donations and the original $18 million donated by Moran, for whom the center is named, and the U. is looking toward a new building in 2006.
Looks like the donations are just rolling in, right?
"We never, never can kick back," Mattsson said. He likes the quote, "Success is never final." "No truer words were ever said about fund raising. Because it's a highly competitive field."
As government resources diminish for the arts and other areas, the private sector is being called on for a larger share, he added. "We are almost always expanding and growing our development programs."
In the 1980s, the U. held a statewide fund-raising campaign that netted $150 million. In the 1990s a similar sweeping campaign drew in $500 million. Within the next few years, the U. will be shooting for $750 million to $1 billion from a single donation drive.
"It's almost like a political campaign," Mattsson said. Every $100 and $1 million donation makes a difference.
Why hit up an entire state?
"Need," Mattsson answers. To illustrate his point, he says, picture the U. campus without the buildings, labs and programs that wouldn't exist if not for donations. "And every area of the university would be affected."
Nearly every area of higher education relies to some extent on donations. And few charitable organizations have had more financial impact on public and higher education than the George S. and Delores Dore Eccles Foundation.
From $10,000 to Altamont Elementary School in 1999 to $5.5 million through 2005 to Westminster College for its Health, Wellness and Athletic Center, the Eccles' contributions to education are staggering.
Here's a look at how much the Eccles have given to public colleges and universities since 1992, according to the foundation's own "Second Decade Report":
$1,064,000 — CEU;
$500,000 — DSC;
$100,000 — Salt Lake Community College;
$3,333,000 — Snow;
$3,315,000 — SUU;
$31,136,535 — U.;
$76,500 — Utah College of Applied Technology;
$5,445,200 — USU;
$265,000 — Utah Valley State College;
$941,250 — WSU.
The foundation gives to hundreds of charitable causes, but clearly there's a soft spot for higher education.
To quote foundation president Spencer F. Eccles from the report, "The benefits of investing in education reach far beyond any single campus or community. Our grants to education are made as investments in the long-term growth, development, and economic well-being of the people of Utah."
Equally impressive are the donations that come from Jon Huntsman Sr. and the Huntsman family. Multiple buildings bear the name on the SUU, U. and USU campuses. The most publicly recognized would be the Huntsman Cancer Institute, to which Huntsman Sr. donated $225 million, and the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
With the Huntsman name, there is no foundation connection.
"The thing that makes it difficult to quantify everything he has done is that so much of it is spontaneous giving," said Huntsman spokesman Don Olsen. The pattern is more a million here and there, or the "countless" scholarships Huntsman Sr. has funded.
Roughly 90 percent of donations come from about 10 percent of the donors. Those donations are particularly crucial, said USU President Kermit Hall, in a state where giving at church tends to take priority for many residents.
That's why competition for private funds is getting more fierce in times when fewer dollars flow from the Legislature. To that end, USU is gearing up for its own major fund drive. It'll help that in the three years Hall has been at USU, the school has gained a lot more local and national recognition.
"We have to expand the base of our fund-raising activities," said Hall, who coincidentally was on his way to meet with more than 300 alumni last week. USU has also hired additional staff just for fund raising. "I believe in the end competition is a good thing — it pushes us."
E-MAIL: sspeckman@desnews.com