Top 20 Colleges in Fundraising: Who’s Best at Tapping Alumni?

U.S. colleges and universities raised $30.3 billion in contributions in 2011, an increase of 8.2% over a year earlier, according to the annual Voluntary Support of Education survey released last week by the Council for Aid to Education.

Adjusted for inflation, giving increased by 4.8%, the CAE said in a statement.

Giving for capital purposes increased by 13.6% (10.1%, adjusted for inflation), and for current operations, it grew by 4.7% (1.4%).

Voluntary support last year came from foundations (28.6%), alumni (25.7%), unaffiliated individuals (18.6%), corporations (16.6%), religious organizations (1%) and other organizations (9.4%).

The growth in charitable contributions, welcome though it is after several years of stagnant or decreased giving, looks more sobering in context, however. Giving accounted for just 6.5% of college expenditures in 2011, and giving for current operations, the dollars that can be used immediately to offset current-year expenses, accounted for 3.8% of expenditures.

The top 20 college and university fundraisers received $8.2 billion in 2011–15.8% more than they raised in 2010. This elite group does not comprise exactly the same institutions as the top 20 in 2010. The former raised 15.3% more than the latter in 2010.

The 2011 top 20 represent 2% of the 1,009 survey respondents, yet they received more than a quarter of all 2011 gifts to higher education institutions. Moreover, the increase in giving to these 20 institutions (some $1.1 billion) accounts for nearly half of the increase ($2.3 billion) to all institutions.

The top 20 colleges and universities:

20.  University of Minnesota

— ($272.6 million)
— 11.3% increase over 2010
— Ranked 21 in 2010

19.  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

— ($275 million)
— 3% increase over 2010
— Ranked 18 in 2010

18.  University of California-Berkeley

— ($283.4 million)
— 7.9% decrease from 2010
— Ranked 14 in 2010

17.  Indiana

— ($295.9 million)
— 13.7% decrease from 2010
— Ranked 10 in 2010

16.  Cornell

— ($315.5 million)
— 2.4% increase over 2010
— Ranked 13 in 2010

15.  University of Wisconsin-Madison

— ($315.8 million)
— 1.3% increase over 2010
— Ranked 12 in 2010

14.  University of Washington

— ($334.5 million)
— 17.3% increase over 2010
— Ranked 16 in 2010

13.  New York University

— ($337.9 million)
— 3.3% decrease from 2010
— Ranked 8 in 2010

12.  Duke