Publication: A Princeton Companion
Fund Raising. Only two years after the College of New Jersey was founded in 1746, a trustee remarked that ``the principal thing we now want is a proper fund to enable us to go on with this expensive undertaking.'' Naturally a committee was formed and Princeton's long history of fund-raising commenced.
In the beginning, subscriptions were sought from colonists in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Lotteries were conducted in the College's behalf, and loyal sons returned to England for financial support and encouragement. The earliest fund-raisers, founding Trustee Gilbert Tennent and fourth president Samuel Davies, left the College in 1753 on a trip to Britain to appeal for support. A year-and-a-half later, with Davies nearly dead from seasickness, they returned home heartened by the generosity of their former countrymen who financed construction of the first college building. As stone upon stone was laid and the building began to take shape, the trustees asked ``to dignify the edifice now erecting at Princeton'' with the name of Jonathan Belcher, then the governor of New Jersey. But Mr. Belcher declined the honor (perhaps one of the nicest gifts anyone has given to the University!) and suggested the building be named Nassau Hall, as a memorial to King William III, House of Nassau.
Many subsequent forays to raise funds for specific purposes continued over the years. Left uneasy by these unrelated, ad hoc solicitations, President Maclean established a permanent endowment fund in 1853. But the endowment grew slowly, and Princeton depended largely on annual gifts to meet its operating expenses. Today both current gifts and endowment income make major contributions to the operating budget, accounting for about a quarter of the income.
From the very beginning, Princeton realized that her loyal, supportive alumni were her most important hope for continuing strength and sustenance. Systematic annual appeals to the entire alumni body began in 1940 with Annual Giving. That year $80,000 was realized, a modest beginning for the well-organized drives that attracted more than $5 million by 1977. Complementing these campaigns, which raise unrestricted support for the University, are more specific, formal solicitations conducted by the Development O~ffice, established in 1956 to attract funds for endowment, construction, student aid, and other needs.
In 1959, the Office launched a $53 million campaign under President Goheen. Thanks mainly to alumni generosity, that goal was soon exceeded, and another development program, begun less than a decade later, raised $125 million for Princeton. Gifts from alumni (which by this time included women) were to remain the primary means of support; they were complemented by foundation, corporate, and government assistance. As President Bowen has suggested, it is because of these diverse sources of support that Princeton is able to retain its independence. Although ultimate responsibility for fund-raising still falls on the president and trustees, volunteer alumni advocates (headed by the Council for University Resources) -- supported by a staff of 25 persons -- coordinate the activities.
Over the years gifts to the University have ranged from a first folio Shakespeare to fellowships; from parcels of land -- such as the original four-and-a-half acre plot presented in 1753 for the site of the College by Nathaniel FitzRandolph, or the three-and-a-half mile long Lake Carnegie given by Andrew Carnegie in 1906 -- to works of art. Memorials include some 100 endowed professorships and 700 scholarships. Through Annual Giving Princeton is better able to support faculty salaries and purchase less glamorous yet essential items such as light bulbs and lawnmowers. The spirit and loyalty of alumni and other friends through the centuries continue to give renewed life to the thought of President Dodds: ``We intend to be the progenitors of a stronger Princeton, not merely beneficiaries of generations that came before us.''
Henry E. Bessire
From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).