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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, February 24, 2009

IU ranks 11th nationally for Total Voluntary Support in FY 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University ranks second in the Big Ten, third among public universities, and 11th among all colleges and universities in the nation in the amount of support it received from the private sector in fiscal 2008. With a record $408.6 million in Total Voluntary Support in fiscal year 2008, IU moved up in the rankings in every category.

Total Voluntary Support is the sum of gift funds and non-governmental research grant funds received by an institution of higher education in a given year. The rankings are compiled annually by the Council for Aid to Education.

"IU received more in gift funds in fiscal 2008 than any year in its history," said IU President Michael A. McRobbie. "IU's faculty was awarded grants by the private sector at near-record levels, and Riley Children's Foundation raised more for Riley Children's Hospital in fiscal 2008 than in any prior year."

"In these difficult economic times," said McRobbie, "it is good to be reminded that our donors and grantors recognize that higher education and Indiana University play a key role in the economic recovery of the state and nation."

IU's Total Voluntary Support increased by 47 percent from fiscal 2007 to fiscal 2008.

Contributing to the increase were several notable gifts. Among these were $77 million for scholarships from the estate of Jesse and Beulah Cox, IU's largest gift ever for scholarships and its largest gift from individuals. In the same fiscal year, the Lilly Endowment made a gift of $44 million for the Jacobs School of Music and $25 million for the Maurer School of Law. Nearly all gifts made to IU are designated by donors for specific purposes within the campuses, schools and programs of the university.

In its report, the Council for Aid to Education notes that giving is historically affected by the strength of the stock market, the overall health of the economy as measured by Gross Domestic product (GDP), and tax laws. The report concludes that giving may decline in 2009.

The nation's top twenty fundraising universities (and dollars received) in 2008 are:

1. Stanford University ($785.04 million)
2. Harvard University ($650.63 million)
3. Columbia University ($495.11 million)
4. Yale University ($486.61 million)
5. University of Pennsylvania ($475.96 million)
6. University of California, Los Angeles ($456.65 million)
7. Johns Hopkins University ($ 448.96 million)
8. University of Wisconsin-Madison ($410.23 million)
9. Cornell University ($409.42 million)
10. University of Southern California ($409.18 million)
11. Indiana University ($408.62 million)
12. New York University ($387.61 million)
13. Duke University ($385.67 million)
14. University of California, San Francisco ($366.07 million)
15. University of Michigan ($333.45 million)
16. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($311.90 million)
17. University of Minnesota ($307.61 million)
18. University of Washington ($302.77 million)
19. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ($292.39 million)
20. University of California, Berkeley ($285.35 million)

The top twenty institutions represent 1.9 percent of the 1,052 survey respondents.

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