While the 2009 fiscal year revealed a steep drop in private giving to colleges nationwide, Bowdoin's annual giving fund has weathered the storm thus far in 2010. The College is not only on target to reach its annual giving levels, but the number of donors has also increased by 5 percent over the past year, according to Vice President of Planning and Development and Secretary of the College Bill Torrey.
Annual giving includes "the money that's used to directly support the College operating budget," Torrey said. "It supports all the things that the College does on a regular basis," which includes such items as electricity costs, salaries and academic giving.
For the 2010 fiscal year, which ends June 30, the College has set a goal of $7,475,000 for annual giving, which comprises five percent of the College's total operating budget of $144,393,000 for the 2009-2010 year. It targeted the same number for last year's budget, as the College didn't increase its annual giving goal due to the depressed economy, said Torrey.
"We set goals for annual giving. We modestly increase it every year. Because of last year and the economy, we didn't this year," he said.
As of right now, the College has raised $3.62 million towards its annual giving goal. While this number is lower than the number reported by the Orient last year at this time ($4,195,747), it only includes unrestricted giving, according to Torrey.
"Unrestricted is what we budget for the operating budget. That's the key number," he said. "Unrestricted at the same time last year was actually behind."
Restricted giving includes "specific spendable purchases," which includes items not planned for in the budget that the College spends money on during the fiscal year, according to Torrey.
The economy continues to affect giving levels, but while the College fell "slightly short of goal" during the 2009 year, Torrey said that the College will be able to fully support its operating budget if it reaches the 2010 target.
"There's no question that the economy has had an impact on giving and that it's had an impact on people who support the College," he said. "If [annual giving] is even with a year ago we'll be fine because we didn't budget an increase this year."
Funds raised from the Bowdoin Campaign, which ran for five years from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2009, continue to contribute to annual giving. Overall, the Campaign raised $293 million in pledges, according to Torrey.
"We're still having people pay off campaign pledges at this point," said Torrey. "During the campaign we got pledges that people were going to pay off over five to seven years depending on how they paid them."
In terms of total giving, which includes all gifts to the College that support not only the operating budget but also the endowment and capital projects such as the Peter Buck Center for Health and Fitness, the College has raised $25.6 million to date, Torrey said. To date, the College's total giving is down about 10 percent from what it was last year at this time ($26,240,566).
Because people will finish paying off their pledges, total giving won't be as high this year as it was during 2009, according to Torrey.
"We should have a good year overall," he said. "It will not be good as last year overall in terms of dollars but it should be a good year."