Agenda for Excellence achievements require massive fundraising

Each of the University's schools is actively pursuing donors for facilities, endowed chairs and aid. Every timetable has a deadline. But while the 12 University schools rapidly check off academic, research and facilities goals before the Agenda for Excellence wraps up in 2001, administrators have granted an extension for Agenda fundraising. "Fundraising will never be completed," said School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston. "There is always more to do." Nevertheless, officials say such a lag does not necessarily inhibit the goals of the Agenda -- University President Judith Rodin's five-year campus master plan, released in late 1995 -- because as Penn may begin projects without funds in hand. According to Rodin, administrators will continue efforts into 2003 to locate private donors to fund the Agenda's approximately $1.5 billion price tag. In fact, the Agenda's Goal 3 justifies its own fundraising efforts, stating that, "The University will manage its human, financial and physical resources effectively and efficiently to achieve its strategic goals." And Rodin said she has faith that deans and administrators will succeed in meeting their annual benchmarks. "I am confident that we will continue to aggressively make an effort to accomplish [our goals]," Rodin said. "But there are a lot of external variables not under our control, such as funding, federal money and new tax structures." First aid Vice President for Development Virginia Clark, who oversees all Penn fundraising, said progress is steady on the funding front. Her office has already raised about $200 million for the agenda, she said. Clark said one of Penn's top fundraising priorities is to increase its endowment for school-specific scholarships and overall undergraduate financial aid by $200 million -- initiatives that are also a part of the Agenda. Of the $50 million Penn allocates annually for aid, only $2.3 million, or 4.6 percent, is covered by the University's $2.89 billion endowment. This percentage lands Penn at the bottom of the Ivy League in its endowment-financial aid ratio. By comparison, Princeton University currently spends $24 million a year on financial aid, 95 percent of which is covered by its $4.8 billion endowment. Penn development officials have already raised about $40 million, or 20 percent, of their overall goal, Clark noted. She added that alumni, foundation and corporate support comprise the bulk of the donations. For example, the extra $40 million will help fund the University's new Trustee Scholars program, which will aid as many as 50 outstanding freshmen with need-based aid packages funded exclusively by grants and work-study earnings, instead of loans. The program will dispense a total of about $125,000 a year. The development office is also looking to fund at least 125 endowed chairs across all 12 schools, Clark said, adding that officials have raised funds for 13 chairs in the past 1 1/2 years. Ecah endowed chair is established with a $2 million gift to the University, part of which subsidizes a top faculty member's hefty salary. Officials also began fund-raising for five of the six academic priorities released 10 months after the original Agenda. Clark declined to provide specific figures. But she said fundraising efforts have yet to begin for the "Management, Leadership and Organizations" priority, which will deal with improving management and business strategies in a global market. Also, funds derived from cost-cutting programs aimed at saving the central administration $50 million over the next five years will not be fed back into Agenda priorities. Rodin stressed that administrative restructuring measures -- including outsourcing, cost-efficiency projects and streamlining employee benefits -- only fund initiatives outside of the scope of the Agenda, such as the $6.5 million, multi-phase lighting project begun last spring. The project includes improving lights on major campus walkways and an architectural lighting program to illuminate University buildings. Fundraising across schools In addition to University-wide funding priorities, all four undergraduate schools have laid out yearly and long-term funding goals in their individual strategic plans released last year. The plans highlight as priorities facilities construction and renovations, raising schools' endowments for undergraduate financial aid and funding endowed chairs. SAS set an ambitious five- to 10-year goal of $100 million to fund a $40 million to $45 million new Biology facility and a $30 to $35 million new Psychology building, along with renovations to the English Department's Bennett Hall. Preston said the school has already raised about $5 million, or 5 percent of its facilities goal. The school has also raised about $6 million for endowed chairs under an overarching $200 million fundraising goal, which includes funding chairs, student aid and start-up funds in the sciences. Although Preston was not able to provide figures on financial aid, he cited master's degree programs in Bioethics, Biotechnology and Environmental Science as generating additional revenue. The School of Engineering and Applied Science set a five-year goal of $50 million, half of which will fund the computer science and cognitive laboratory facilities under the second phase of the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology project. The first phase of the project was completed last November with the unveiling of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories. The building houses labs for chemistry and chemical and medical engineering. Funding for endowed chairpersonships, undergraduate financial aid and undergraduate and graduate programming absorbs the other half of the pie, according to Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington. He said the school raised $10 million for these initiatives in fiscal year 1997. The Nursing School has already raised 62 percent, or $22 million, of its five-year fundraising goal of $35.3 million, Nursing spokesperson Susan Greenbaum said. Nursing's own agenda plan cites endowed chairs, student aid and support for research and clinical practice as top fundraising priorities. Nursing Dean Norma Lang stressed that any successful fundraising campaign must take an active approach to courting donors. "We are aggressively communicating our needs to individuals, foundations and corporations," she said. Wharton School administrators have a similar strategy and big expectations. The business school has embarked on a $350 million, six-year fundraising initiative for endowed chairs, student aid and facility costs. Although Fiscal Year 1996 figures were not available, Wharton spokesperson Chris Hardwick said the school raised $57 million in Fiscal Year 1997 -- 43 percent more than its original goal of $40 million for the year. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. And although blueprints have yet to be finalized for the new Wharton facility -- to be built on the current bookstore site at 38th Street and Locust Walk-- the University has already raised $35 million, or 29 percent, of the $120 million "school-specific priority," Clark said.

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