No Presents, Please

For Harvard's 300th birthday, alumni raised and presented a magnanimous gift of $5.5 million. Fifty years later, University administrators say, Harvard is neither soliciting nor expecting any donations from the guests at its anniversary party, which will cost the University $1 million.

Visiting alumni say they are enjoying the fundraising-free atmosphere, and that the events they attend this week will likely inspire them to make donations in the near future.

"By decree from the governing boards, no fundraising will be connected with the celebration," says Thomas W. "Steve" Stephenson '37, general secretary of the birthday bash.

"If you throw a birthday party, you like to get presents but you don't charge money," says Financial Vice President Thomas O'Brien. "Our intent is to have a nice birthday party."

University officials emphatically stress the dearth of money-grubbing during the event.

"The president has been firm on this. There will be no fundraising going on, overtly or covertly," says Thomas M. Reardon, director of University development. "If someone arrived with a check it would be a big surprise."

"To raise money at [the 350th] is not the most effective in the long run," says O'Brien. "The worst mistake is simply to get people to give money to get rid of them."

To spark alumni enthusiasm for University programs and to "show them the difference their support makes" is the most effective way to raise money, says O'Brien. "It's like the difference between sex and love."

Sharing The Wealth

Harvard's generosity, rather than alumni's, will be the 350th's driving force, say financial officials. "The University is always looking to try to take assets we have and share them with the world," says Treasurer Roderick MacDougall. "To think the 350th is a "scheme" for money is "just ridiculous."

"I'm not going to go around and point out buildings and cornerstones," says Henry G. Van der Eb '42, chairman of the Harvard College Fund. "I'm going to be enjoying myself."

Accordingly, the staff of the University Development Office, Harvard's central money-raising organization, has been cut off from virtually all of the planning for the 350th, says Reardon.

"Our mission is to help with fundraising, but we have absolutely no intention to exploit [the 350th]," says Reardon.

Despite the fundraising ban, though, some University arts organizations will sponsor events to raise money on their own, says Fred L. Glimp '50, vice president for alumni affairs. Harvard museums will sponsor "black tie affairs" for their supporters, Glimp says.

Money will also flow when the party-goers pay for their tickets to 350th events, such as the grand finale at The Stadium. Some Crimson elite were designated by Harvard to bankroll the fireworks-filled gala by paying $175 for their tickets (all but $25 is tax deductible), compared to the $25 and $10 charges for other guests. "Some people can afford high costs," says Reardon.

"It's a little bit like a football game. To decide who is going to get tickets, you have to have a pecking order," says Francis H. Burr '35, chairman of the 350th Anniversary Celebration Commission and former senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation.

Reardon and Glimp say the higher-priced tickets will help defray the celebration's $1 million price-tag. "I don't feel we ought to use scholarship money to finance the extravaganza," says Glimp.

But even the ticket revenues will not cover the cost of the entire celebration, say finance administrators. The stadium event and a folk concert will be the only major events to charge more than $10, while a champagne and jazz ball at the Charles Hotel will cost only $5 and the more than 100 symposia with top University professors will be free.

"The University will subsidize [the 350th]," says Reardon. "We will not make a profit. We will not break even."

As 40,000 alumni, students, and friends of Harvard--including some of the University's most generous benefactors--converge on Cambridge, however, University finance officials may regret the decision to exclude all fundraising from the event.

Although the development office concluded a $360 million five-year fundraiser in December 1984, it has yet to raise enough to finance the completion of major renovation projects in the Houses and laboratories.

Fringe Benefits

Despite the exorbitant cost of the 350th and the official ban on fundraising, University finance officials say the celebration could have lucrative long-term effects for Harvard. Reardon says the 350th will evoke "a residual benefit in fundraising."

When visitors hear star Harvard faculty in the symposia or stay in dilapidated dormitories, they will be more inclined to contribute to support these aspects of the University, says Glimp. Bringing alumni to Harvard will expose them to the University's budgetary needs and help to overcome the stereotype that we're rich,"Reardon says.

Robert Phifer '69, an alumni representativefrom San Francisco, says he agrees that the 350thplanners have "tried to create a good feeling" forHarvard. "This good feeling means support andsupport means giving money," says Phifer.

"I can't imagine many people coming away fromthe 350th without anything but a warm feeling forthe institution," says Van der Eb.

The next time Harvard sends Eddie Marshall '26of Weston a dplea for donations, he says, "theywill work in [the 350th] somehow and ask 'did youhave a good time?'"

Although some of Harvard's most generousbenefactors will attend the celebration, manyalumni representatives say they were chosen basedon their record of service for Harvard, ratherthan the size of their donations. "I havevolunteered 100 man hours to Harvard," says LorrinLau '39, who says he could never afford to give alarge monetary gift.

"Some of our friends said you need to give $1million to go [to the 350th]. But you don't needto," says John Dixon '43. Representatives werepicked for their involvement in their class andgeographic diversity, says Dixon, who hails fromSouth Carolina.

In contrast to the alumni who broughtmillion-dollar donations to the birthdaycelebration 50 years ago, Bill Saunders '39 says,"I didn't even bring my wallet." Contributions aregiven "more subtly nowadays," he adds. After the350th, Saunders says, he is "confident that we'llbe approached and inspired to give."

In the future Harvard will get "all the moniesthey normally get plus some extra because of thecelebration," predicts Lorin Woodman '37.

In addition to the 350th hype, alumninetworking built up during the five-year HarvardCampaign, which drew a 65 percent participationrate, has also intensified alumni desire tocontribute, says David Johnson, spokesman for thedevelopment office.

The main destination for donations now will bethe 60-year-old Harvard College Fund, saysJohnson. In the first annual fund drive since thecampaign, the fund raked in more than its $17.5million goal last year