The United States may be mired in an economic recession—and philanthropic priorities may have shifted in the wake of 9/11—but Emory completed a successful year of fund raising in 2001–02, bringing in more than $210 million during the fiscal year ending Aug. 31.

The total is down from the banner year the University enjoyed in FY01, when Emory raised a record $297.8 million, but it still marks a significant achievement in difficult economic times, according to Bill Fox, senior vice president for Institutional Advancement (IA).

“I am not an economist, but this seems to me to be one of the shakiest times economically that I have known,” Fox said. “If our endowment is shrinking, then so are the endowments of foundations, and a university depends a great deal on its foundation gifts for its fund raising. So many philanthropic organizations have indicated they will be giving less—and in that environment, we still had a spectacular year.”

Of Emory’s $210,372,283 fund raising total for FY02, $167.8 million came from organizations: corporations and corporate foundations, private foundations, etc. More than $10.5 million was donated by individuals (a total of 26,644 donors), and another $13.8 million came from trusts and bequests (actually an improvement from FY01’s $11.6 million total).

Though the University has raised a staggering amount of money during his tenure—close to $1.75 billion since 1991—Fox is quick to deflect credit to the network of fund raising staff in IA and throughout the University; the amount of money Emory raises is a direct reflection of how people feel about the University, he said, and everyone from academic deans to senior administrators have a hand in helping.

“Many, many people help the University raise money, and my job is simply to coordinate and to see that everything goes smoothly,” Fox said. “In no case does just one person play the only role—for any major gift you can talk about, a number of people played a role in getting that, present and past. For example, when we get an estate gift, that might have been planned 20 years ago.”

Fox said the overall fund-raising strategy did not change in the midst of an economic recession, though he did say Emory was careful to remain sensitive to the realities of 9/11.
“After Sept. 11, a number of people for perfectly understandable reasons made a decision to support causes to help those in need in New York, Pittsburgh and Washington—and I support that entirely. We even delayed our own fund raising in some cities for that very reason,” Fox said. “We felt that cause deserved the attention of donors, so that was a tough factor.”

One positive aspect on which to build was the addition of several new facilities to the Emory campus. People still rave about the 2-year-old Miller-Ward Alumni House, Fox said, and new additions like the Whitehead Building, the Math and Science Center
and the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts give people reason to be excited about Emory’s future. That sentiment was echoed by other IA leaders.

“The performing arts center is something that is important to so many of our constituents—even those who’ve never been involved with Emory,” said Jane DiFolco Parker, senior associate vice president for IA services. “That’s one of the great benefits of that facility, that it’s going to bring people to this campus who perhaps wouldn’t otherwise come.”