Though Johns Hopkins is one of the nation's premier research universities, it continues to lag behind its competitors in alumni gift-giving and contributions to the endowment.
Approximately 10 percent of the University's budget relies on money generated by Hopkins' 122,033 alumni and the University's $1.695 billion endowment.
While Hopkins is continually ranked as one of the country's top research universities, it ranks sixth in alumni gift-giving and has only the nation's 19th largest endowment among research institutions, according to the 2003 rankings compiled by a research group at the University of Florida.
Cornell University and the University of Chicago both have endowments of approximately $3.5 billion; Harvard has an endowment of $19.3 billion -- the nation's largest.
Contributing to Hopkins' ability to remain competitve with a smaller endowment is the fact that the University does not have expensive Business and Law Schools, which require large amounts of endowment funding. Nevertheless, to supplement its small endowment, Hopkins must rely on contributions to the Johns Hopkins Annual Fund from alumni, faculty and friends, often patients of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Donations are considered endowments only when totaling over $20,000 and specifically requested to be established as an endowment; money given without reporting requirements is designated as a gift to the Annual Fund, and can be given restricted or unrestricted as to the money's use.
Donations to the Annual Fund are solicited and collected by the alumni association.
"The Alumni Association works on behalf of the University in a variety of ways," says Constance Caplan, Annual Fund chair, University and Johns Hopkins Medicine trustee, and Hopkins alumnus.
"The Alumni Association encourages membership in the Alumni Association and membership dues support programs that benefit students as well as reach out to alumni and friends by promoting the good work of Johns Hopkins. The Alumni Association also works hard to encourage members and non-members to support the Annual Fund through its website and by providing easy on-line giving opportunities."
According to Caplan, about eighteen thousand alumni give to the Annual Fund per year, 60% of whom are undergraduate alumni.
Annual Fund contributions supplement the endowment by providing student financial aid, purchasing materials for the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, and helping to fund events like Spring Fair, the MSE Symposium, and the Foreign Affairs Symposium.
The rising costs of higher education and the recent downturns in the economy have contributed to a nationwide decrease in alumni giving, as competition for donations is increasing.
Despite this trend, the gift giving of Hopkins alumni has stayed roughly the same.
Hopkins alumnus Vincent Fort??, Chief Executive Officer of Q Step Technologies in California, whose son Tony is also a Hopkins graduate and whose two daughters Marisa and Gina are currently undergraduates, contributes to the school on a regular basis.
His donations helped to fund the Fort?? Music Room in the Mattin Center.
"Contributions make a difference because they either add to the physical resources of the school or they add to the ability of the university to meet its operating expenses and offer scholarships to students," Fort?? says.
"When I was a student there 25 years ago, tuition was $2,000, and now it's $26,000. I could work during the summer and make $2,000, or at least $1,000. Today, students can't work during the summer and make $14,000 -- things are much more expensive proportionately, relative to what students can earn. People need help."
Fort?? is confident that his donations are being used by the university in a way that positively affects students.
"You can choose how the money is used," he says.
"If I give it unrestricted, then implicitly I'm agreeing to and supporting the way the university is spending the money. If I give it restricted, then I'm giving it for a specific purpose. I generally feel confident in the way the university is spending the money."
Fort??, like many alumni donors, contributes to Hopkins both out of a sense of gratitude and a desire to give back.
"The Hopkins experience is a maturing experience," Fort?? says. "The experience you get at Hopkins sets you up well for graduate school and the work environment. The value of four years is there when you look back at it, ten or thirty years out.
"In my personal case, the university gave me a scholarship when I was there that really helped me. [Contributing] is my way of giving back and helping other people."
