Duke financial statement misrepresents private donations

Wednesday’s coverage of the Board of Trustees (“Board of Trustees briefed on cost-cutting measures”) was a very good summary of the meeting and the challenges facing all of us at Duke, but may have left an incorrect impression about fundraising results in the last fiscal year. The article states, “In addition to an overall decrease in investments, the University has seen a 61 percent decrease in revenue from private donations—from a historic high of $351.6 million in the 2007-2008 fiscal year to $136.9 million in the 2008-2009 fiscal year...” As noted, the University’s financial statement follows generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which distribute private support among multiple revenue categories, rather than counting them all under the header “Contributions.” In addition, the financial statement notes that pledges—promises of future support—are counted in the year in which they are made. As a result of these and other footnoted accounting procedures, the University’s financial statement is not the best source for information about private donations.  

In fact, the commonly agreed-upon standard for measuring private support comes from the Council for Aid to Education, which includes philanthropic cash receipts, not pledges, as well as non-governmental grants that represent philanthropic distributions. By this measure, in 2008-09 Duke received gifts totaling $301.6 million from nearly 101,000 donors. Although that is down from the 2007-08 record high of $385.7 million, principally as a result of several large, one-time, non-recurring gifts from generous donors such as the Duke Endowment, last year’s total represents very robust private support from the full spectrum of alumni, parents, and friends of the University, and still places Duke among the leading fundraisers in higher education.

There is no doubt that the economic turmoil of the past year has affected philanthropy at all levels, from the most successful universities to small nonprofits. However, we are deeply encouraged by the eagerness of the Duke community to invest in our essential missions of education, discovery and service, and to do so consistently and generously.

Michael Schoenfeld

Duke University Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations