65 Percent of Colleges Raised Less in 2020 Than 2019, Survey Finds

A quarter of college fundraisers said gift revenue dropped by more than 30 percent in the last half of 2020, compared with that period in 2019. Paltry giving by major donors was the main cause of this decline, according to findings from a new survey of 104 U.S. and Canadian colleges conducted by researchers with the higher-education consulting firm EAB.

By the end of the 2020 calendar year, roughly 65 percent of colleges had raised less than they had the previous year.

Many colleges struggled to bring in new donations during the last half of 2020. Revenue from new contributions and pledges declined by a median of roughly 9 percent, but the overall landscape of college giving was uneven. Nearly 50 percent of the colleges said fundraisers made fewer appeals for gifts of $25,000 or more during the last half of 2020. More than 41 percent of respondents said the number of those gifts increased from July 1 to December 31.

Among public colleges, fundraising revenue grew by a median of 3 percent from July 1 to December 31, the survey found. However, the volume of major gifts public colleges received during that time slid for 70 percent of colleges. By contrast, fundraising revenue fell by a median of 10 percent at private colleges. Private doctoral institutions felt the tightest financial squeeze, according to Jeff Martin, senior director at EAB and a researcher on the survey.

Fewer Donors

Last year’s disappointing fundraising revenue was not unexpected. An earlier EAB survey, released in June, found that fundraisers were girding for revenue declines equal to or greater than those following the 2008 financial crisis — and they were right to be worried. In 2009, college gift revenue dropped nearly 12 percent. The new survey found a drop of more than 9 percent during the last half of 2020 alone over the same period in 2019. Gifts of at least $25,000 fell a median of 11 percent.

Fundraisers are concerned about a decline in the number of donors as well as gift size, the survey found. From July 1 to December 31, 60 percent of colleges said their number of supporters declined. At one-fifth of colleges in the survey, donor rolls shrank by roughly 20 percent. In interviews, some fundraisers said they expect revenue declines to dog colleges into the 2022 financial year.

Even so, the survey found a few bright spots. Fundraising revenue from July 1 to December 31 actually increased by 10 percent or more at roughly 35 percent of the colleges in the survey. A handful of colleges — 15 of 104 — even managed to improve on all the metrics they use to measure fundraisers’ success, including the number of dollars, donors, and new major gifts.

Among the other findings:

• Roughly 9 percent of colleges surveyed saw no year-over-year change in the number of major gift appeals they made from July 1 to December 31.
• Almost 40 percent of colleges said the number of appeals for gifts of at least $25,000 fell by 10 percent or more.