PROVIDENCE – Annual fund donations from more than 32,000 donors and one of the largest gifts in Brown University’s history helped the Ivy League school amass $389.1 million in fiscal year 2018, breaking its previous record by $88 million, per a July 17 statement.
Of the total, $45.8 million was contributed to the annual fund – $7.9 million more than the previous record of $37.9 million. Per the school’s statement, much of the annual fund donations came from classes celebrating reunions in 2018.
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Two multimillion-dollar gifts played a large role in helping to break the previous record, according to the school’s data. The first, $100 million from Robert J. Carney ’61 and Nancy D. Carney to rename the brain science institute, and a $50 million gift from Brown Chancellor Samuel M. Mencoff ’78 and Ann S. Mencoff to the Warren Alpert Medical School – helped push the total into record-breaking territory.
The $389.1 million raised during the recently-closed fiscal year, per the school’s count, also fed into the BrownTogether campaign and, as of June 30, the coffers stand at $1.78 billion, or just over half of its $3 million target.
Record-breaking philanthropy, said Sergio Gonzalez, Brown’s senior vice president for university advancement, is due to the generosity of the greater Brown community. In FY2018, 32,301 donors contributed gifts to the annual fund ranging from $1 to $1.25 million.
“Our alumni, parents and friends have continued to demonstrate their steadfast commitment to the University and its future,” he said in a prepared statement.
Funds raised during the most recent annual fund campaign period will help cover the costs of financial aid, teaching, research and student support among other priorities. Thanks to the latest round of fundraising, there are currently 62 new professorships – halfway to the BrownTogether campaign’s goal of 123.
Taking into account the FY2018 fundraising totals, since its launch in September, Brown has raised $44.8 million toward its $120 million goal to fund The Brown Promise – an initiative which seeks to eliminate loans from undergraduate financial aid packages starting in the fall.
Gonzalez said that the record-breaking year would not have been possible without the support of the 32,301 members of the extended Brown community who contributed to the Annual Fund in amounts ranging from $1 to $1.25 million. The record $45.8 million in Annual Fund donations was supported largely by alumni donors, with 5,370 graduates from classes celebrating reunions donating $13.4 million, a 23 percent increase compared with the previous fiscal year.
Brown’s previous giving record was $330.7 million set at the close of fiscal 2016. The school’s fundraising dipped to $270.4 million during fiscal 2017.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
