Fundraising campaign off to $1 billion start

Penn's got big ambitions.

It's already got $1 billion in the bag - but that's merely to jumpstart what officials say will be the biggest University-wide fundraising campaign in Penn history. And they think they have some pretty compelling reasons why donors would want to give.

University President Amy Gutmann expects to raise "multiples" of the $1 billion nucleus in the remainder of the campaign, which will extend through 2012. Gutmann showcased the current fund for the University Board of Trustees at the board's meetings last month.

Penn is currently in the second year of the "quiet phase" of the campaign, which will raise money for the University's imminent eastward expansion and campus redevelopment plan - which includes 24 acres of former U.S. Postal Service land that the school will acquire next semester.

Specific goals of the campaign - according to Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations John Zeller - include more money for endowed professorships, financial aid, renewed science facilities, a new college house on Hill Field and renovations of the ARCH building.

And officials say they're sure those causes will inspire donors.

The quiet phase, which began July 1 of last year, is a period of soliciting donations from Penn alumni and close friends of the University before beginning any public fundraising, Zeller said.

"We've been . talking to them about what we're trying to accomplish," Zeller said. "It has resonated very strongly."

He said the University will continue to refine its message for the public phase of the campaign, which will begin next fall.

Officials have not yet announced exactly how much they aim to raise.

"Given how much we raised this past year, I've raised my heights at least that high for the next year," Gutmann said. "We'll keep building on our success."

In the past year, Penn raised more than $409 million in cash, and almost $494 million in gifts and receipts, Gutmann said.

Zeller said the University hopes to raise 60 percent of its goal in the quiet phase and 40 percent after going public.

Fundraising experts agree that the quiet phase is essential to a successful campaign.

You "solicit your best prospects, . the ones that are the most capable and closest to your organizations," explained Bill Moran, president of the fundraising consulting firm the Moran Company. You "try to set the bar as high as you can."

There is a broad base of support for the current campaign, Gutmann said. The University received more than 50 gifts of $1 million or more.

The single largest cash gift so far, $14 million, was made by trustee George Weiss in support of undergraduate financial aid, Gutmann said.

However, Raymond and Ruth Perelman have pledged even more money - $25 million - to put their names on Penn Medicine's Center for Advanced Medicine.

David Silfen also pledged more than $12 million - $10 million to fund two Penn Integrates Knowledge interdisciplinary professors and $2 million for an annual lecture series. Two of the faculty members were hired last month, bringing the total number of PIK professors to three.

Campaigns for the Law and Nursing schools are included in the overall University campaign.

The current fundraising effort will have the added bonus of publicity for the expansion and development project, experts say.

"What a campaign will do is not only create money, but all of a sudden, people are thinking," Moran said. It "elevates the organization in terms of publicity."

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