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Good Year for Fund Raising
Duke received a record-breaking $341,894,326 in charitable gifts
between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006. That total represents
gifts received during the 2006 fiscal year.
Gifts came from 95,614 donors, including about 41,000 alumni—more
than a third of them in the year's fourth quarter. The last record
was set in 1999-2000, when Duke received $302.6 million in philanthropic
support.
"We were all really grateful, and, to be honest, even a bit
relieved about the way the year ended following all that happened
and how it was reported in the press," says Robert Shepard,
vice president for alumni affairs and development.
"We knew the university would set an overall giving record
because we had several very large gifts to Duke's Financial Aid
Initiative earlier in the year.
"But we had no idea that the number of donors in the last
quarter—April, May, and June—including alumni donors, would be
above our averages, or that the Duke Annual Fund would just blow
by its goal during that period.
"Perhaps the only conclusion we should come to with certainty
is that Duke donors care a lot about this university. I am absolutely
sure those numbers show that is true."
Duke's Annual Fund, supported by more than 44,000 alumni, parents,
and friends, exceeded its goal for the thirty-first consecutive
year and also established a record with more than $25.4 million.
Annual Fund donors provide Duke with unrestricted operating support,
which helps pay for a wide range of immediate needs and gives university
leaders the flexibility to invest in new programs.
The Duke Endowment, the Charlotte-based charitable trust created
by university founder James B. Duke, was the largest single donor,
giving about $53.6 million for a variety of purposes, including
scholarships and academic and community-outreach programs. Last
October, the Endowment announced its intention to make its largest
contribution ever to Duke—$75 million—for financial-aid endowment
at Duke, to be paid over three years.
www.development.duke.edu
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