Alumni and Fundraising: Harvard's Give and Take

At his Commencement address to alumni this June, President Derek C. Bok described a Faustian nightmare in which he sold off the University piece by piece to raise money for the endowment.

Fundraising: Billion-Dollar Stakes last in an occasional series.

On a more realistic level, Bok and other administrators say they are increasingly troubled by the University's reliance on fundraising, particularly as Harvard prepares to launch its largest capital drive ever.

"Fundraising is not exactly what drew me into academic life," Bok said in a recent interview. "Obviously, it would be better if you could just total up a bill and send it someplace."

But when Bok and administrators do total up Harvard's bill, more often than not the money comes from the checkbooks of the University's wealthier alumni.

And that poses a thorny set of problems for an academic institution committed to free intellectual discourse, even as it is continually dependent on the goodwill of an financial elite.

For while Harvard must continually cultivateits extensive network of alumni givers, it has tomake sure that academics and not economics aresetting the priorities.

So although the ties--formal andinformal--Harvard establishes with its wealthieralumni are never made explicit, those links are acrucial factor in the University's spectacularsuccess in raising money.

In fact, during the Faculty of Arts andSciences' 350th anniversary campaign, between 400and 500 donors gave about 70 percent of the totalmoney raised.

And Harvard has to try its best to givesomething back--from sponsoring an active HarvardClub in a donor's hometown to offering a big givera seat on an advisory committee.

A prime example of this is the process ofselecting nominees for the Board of Overseers,Harvard's alumni-elected governing body.

Last year, at least three of the University's10 official nominees were major donors.

Officials say that money alone is not enough ofa qualification for the Board, and that they tryto provide alumni with a diverse slate ofcandidates from which to chose. But insiders saypast generosity is always a plus.

In fact, some administrators cited the need forgetting overseers more involved with thefundraising process as justification for recentchanges that will give the University more controlover who is elected to the 30-member Board.

And it is the Board of Overseers which in turnhelps appoint the visiting committees that monitorall aspects of the University. Although thesevisiting committees consist largely of prominentacademics in the field they supervise, largedonors have been known to secure places on them.

The Russian Research Center is one suchexample.

Marshall I. Goldman, the center's associatedirector, readily concedes that academic officialssee the committees as a way to bring interesteddonors closer to their projects.

"If people have given money to the center wetry to get them involved," Goldman says.

That's exactly what happened at the RussianResearch Center recently. As soon as Ernest E.Monrad '51 spent $1 million to endow aprofessorship at the Center, he was put on its19-member, Overseer-appointed visiting committee.

And Monrad's experience is far from unique.

Almost every academic school, department orresearch center in the University has its ownadvisory committees. Often, past or potentialdonors make up larger portions of these bodiesthan of the visiting committees.

"People who care about the place enough to givea lot of money are interested enough to be on acommittee, too," says Robert N. Shapiro '72, vicepresident of the Harvard Alumni Association.

But such logic has drawn negative publicity forHarvard at least once before. Two years ago, aproposed deal between the Kennedy School ofGovernment and a Texas couple prompted a period ofUniversity introspection about the ethics offundraising when the terms were disclosed: inexchange for a $500,000 donation, the couple waspromised "Officer of the University" status andseats on two Kennedy School advisory committees.

Despite the criticism of the arrangement, thepractice of placing donors on advisory committeescontinues, according to those familiar withHarvard fundraising. And, particularly in schoolswith few wealthy alumni such as the Kennedy Schooland the Graduate School of Design (GSD), thoseadvisory committees are instrumental in helping tocreate affiliations between potential givers andthe programs which need to be funded.

"If you bring them closer, then they'reprobably more likely to be big supporters in theend," says Vice President for Alumni Affairs andDevelopment Fred L. Glimp '50.

And GSD Dean Gerald M. McCue says thatsubstantial givers on can often become involved inpolicy making through advisory committees.

"We look to them for ideas, not just financialsupport," McCue says.

Despite the financial benefits of sucharrangements, Harvard's administrators say they'vetaken steps to ensure that fundraising doesn'taffect policy.

McCue is quick to add that administrators arecareful not to let financial generosity overwhelmacademic issues.

Says one Harvard alumni fundraiser, "In someways the University is very circumspect aboutthat. If you were a big funder and tried to sayyou didn't like such-and-such, you'd get the coldshoulder."

And Goldman says the Russian Center, for one,has managed to avoid any sticky situations.

"We've avoided taking money from the CIAbecause we didn't want to be accused of beingunder their influence," Goldman says.

And while Goldman says it's not an idealsituation, he adds "you're going to have to getmoney from somebody, and if you don't [admit that]you're not being honest."

Where Money and Influence Mingle

One committee where fundraising and influenceare deliberately tied is the Committee onUniversity Resources, which discusses theUniversity's development and fundraising plans.

Most of the committee's members have financialbackgrounds, and many are prominent donors. Amongtheir ranks are a Cabot, two Houghtons, a Thayerand a Winthrop.

"It is a committee made up of major financialsupporters of Harvard University," says one alumnifundraiser.

Now, with a multi-billion dollar fund drive inthe works, the University Resources executivecommittee has become a key player in the planningprocess.

Various deans and administrators have come tothe group's meetings, hoping to persuade the25-member executive committee of their school orcenter's desperate financial needs. One suchsession was held last week, and the next is slatedfor November 17 in New York.

University officials say the committee'sinfluence is limited, but Overseer Peter L. Malkin'55, a committee member, says, "It has theopportunities to make suggestions for programs."

Many schools have committees with this kind ofmembership and influence, but William M. Hardt, aPrinceton development officer, says it is alwaysdifficult to make sure "suggestions for programs"don't mortgage the University's mission tofundraising needs.

"Obviously you wouldn't want policy decisionsdriven by the fundraising," Hardt says.

But with alumni bearing such a large part ofthe fundraising burden at Harvard, holding a hardand fast line against such influence is difficult.

On a more practical level, alumni involvementwith the University and its academic programs isstructured around many of the activities of theHarvard Alumni Assocation, which has all Harvardgraduates as its members.

Although the group's main purpose, officerssay, is to nurture ties between graduates and theUniversity, it does play an implicit, but subtle,role in fundraising.

Through social events and visits to localHarvard Clubs by prominent administrators andfaculty, the association does much of the workrequired to maintain a loyal--and generous--groupof alumni.

As Shapiro says, even though fundraising andalumni gatherings are "conceived as havingdifferent functions...you can't really do onewithout thinking of the other."

"The better the Alumni Association does its jobof communicating to alumni about activities atHarvard, the better alumni understand why Harvardis doing what it is, including any fundraisingcampaign it might launch," says Charles J. Egan'54, Alumni Association president.

This overlap carries over to the AlumniAssociation's officials. as well as its functions.

"I would be surprised if there are manyofficers who aren't involved in fundraising insome way," says Shapiro. "If it means a lot to youto keep supporting Harvard, one of the ways is tospend some time on its behalf to raise somemoney."

And that's not uncommon for universities.

"The fact that they exist and keep alumni intouch...is helpful for fundraising," Hardt says.

But Harvard officials have always pridedthemselves on keeping the Alumni Association andfundraising as separate as possible.

"I certainly don't think [fundraising] is aprimary purpose of any Harvard Club in thecountry," says Quentin G. Heisler '65, presidentof the Chicago Harvard Club. "What we try to do isprovide a sense of community."

"Traditionally the Alumni Association hasconcentrated on non-fundraising activities, and Iexpect that's what it will continue to do," Egansays.

Just last month, however, Egan and AlumniAssociation First Vice President Martin A.Heckscher '56 floated a still sketchy proposalthat would strengthen ties between the AlumniAssociation and the Harvard College Fund.

"Since the primary function of the AlumniAssociation is the maintenance and facilitation ofcommunication with alumni about a wide variety ofsubjects relating to the University, a logicalconclusion is that among the things we mightcommunicate would be Harvard finances and fiscalpolicy, including, perhaps, fundraising," saysEgan.MARSHALL I. GOLDMAN, associate director ofthe Russian Research Center, who says thatacademics must draw potential donors to researchprograms through such methods as visitingcommittee appointments.