Good Results on Giving

Duke received $264,424,566 in charitable gifts in the fiscal year that ended June 30, with contributions from a record 89,852 donors, including 44,214 alumni, also a new high for the university. The total represents the second-highest philanthropic giving in Duke’s history, after the previous year’s record of $302,558,190.

“This represents another year of wonderful generosity from a growing number of Duke alumni, parents, and friends,” says President Nannerl O. Keohane. “Giving to the university during the Campaign for Duke has allowed us to make steady and significant progress in a host of crucial academic and student service areas, and now also provides resources for the implementation of our strategic plan. All members of our community are grateful to Duke donors, as well as to our development volunteers and staff.”

Duke’s strategic plan, “Building on Excellence,” was adopted by university trustees last February. Among other priorities, it targets faculty support, strengthening science and engineering, promoting diversity in the student body and staff, and expanding the university’s reach locally, through such efforts as the university’s Neighborhood Partnership Initiative, and globally.

The largest donor to Duke in the fiscal year just ended was The Duke Endowment of Charlotte. The charitable trust created by university founder James B. Duke gave more than $39 million for a variety of purposes, including scholarships and academic programs. The second-largest total came from Patty Wyngaarden Fitzpatrick ’69 and Michael J. Fitzpatrick ’70 of Hillsborough, California, who gave $25 million each to Duke and Stanford universities to establish new centers for advanced photonics, as well as more than $1 million to Duke for its new football building.

University officials say the 2000-01 total reflects a change in Duke’s reporting method. Until 2000-01, “clinical trial” grant revenues, predominantly corporate contributions that help fund some Duke Medical Center research on the effects of a variety of diagnostic approaches and therapies, had an element in the annual total of private gift and grant income. In 1999-2000, Duke included clinical trials in its private gift and grant income—as it always had. The clinical-trial total that year was $105.4 million; last year’s clinical-trials total was $78.5 million.

“In the year just ended and in the future, income from trials will not be reported,” says Robert Shepard, Duke’s vice president for university development. “In the past, there has not been uniformity in reporting, and we believe that the Council for Advancement and Support of Education will soon recommend that institutions not report trial revenue. We have decided to stop doing so now.”

The goal for the university’s fund-raising effort, the Campaign for Duke, was raised by the board of trustees last December from $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The campaign total had reached $1.519 billion by June 30 and Shepard says it remains on schedule toward the $2 billion goal by the end of 2003. He also says clinical-trial revenues have never been included in the Campaign for Duke.