Racking up just over $81 million, the University set a new fundraising record this year, smashing the previous mark by more than 20 percent.Brandeis brought in $81.3 million in cash donations for fiscal year 2006, an increase of 22.5 percent from 2003, the University's previous high-year for fundraising, according to numbers released by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations in July.

Although Brandeis also established new highs in online giving and donations from class reunions, the record-year was driven largely by alumni, who gave a total of $19.7 million-a 64-percent jump from last year. The largest contributions came from "friends" of the University, who gave $29.5 million for an increase of 15 percent.

"I would not say that we have done things differently in a given year, but rather that we have worked very hard, together with members of the Board of Trustees, to build the case for support," University President Jehuda Reinharz wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

Reinharz did say that the development of new programs, such as the Crown Center for Middle East Studies and the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life helped to pique donors' interest. The University also attracted alumni support by reaching out through efforts that include alumni clubs, class reunions and an enhanced Web site.

The University also announced in July that its long-term Campaign for Brandeis fundraising initiative had achieved nearly three-fourths of its goal of collecting $770 million by June 2009. The campaign surpassed its original goal of 470 million dollars in December.

Nancy Winship, the senior vice president of institutional advancement, credited Reinharz's leadership as a major factor in successful fundraising.

"Everywhere he goes he attracts people," Winship said.

Many of those people include former Brandeis students. Twenty-four alumni gave gifts of more than $1 million, Winship said. About half the people making seven-figure donations were first-time donors.

"Alumni want to own their degree," Winship said. "They are very proud of having graduated from Brandeis, and the more good news there is about Brandeis, the prouder they are of that degree that hangs on their office wall."

Reinharz said the cash influx would provide the University with more "budgetary flexibility." The money would support initiatives that maintain and enhance the quality of campus life - such as the construction of new residence halls and other facilities - as well as new scholarships and faculty chairs to help the University attract top-tier students and faculty.

The success of recent fundraising efforts reveals a shift in donor demographics, Winship said. With some the initial crop of the University's donors, many of whom date back to University's founding in 1948, inevitably passing away, Winship said her office recognized the need to attract new donors. The University was losing about 800 donors per year when Winship arrived 12 years ago, she said.

"We needed to find new people who would really be tied to the idea of Brandeis and could feel passionate about this institution, and we have," Winship said.

Winship said donors are attracted to the University's unique mission as a non-sectarian, Jewish-endorsed institution focused issues of social justice, noting that the large amount of research conducted at the University is also a factor for many supporters.

Jonathan Davis '75, a Boston-based philanthropist and the chair of the Board of Trustees' Development Committee, said the generations of aging alumni must take responsibility for the University's financial strength in order for it to compete with other top-ranked institutions.

"Brandeis has great leadership and it has a great mission, but it needs money in order to succeed," he said.

Davis and his wife have made multiple contributions to the University, including a new faculty chair for aging and degenerative diseases finalized last month.

He said that because Brandeis' alumni are generally younger, the University does not benefit from the same level of estate planning gifts other institutions rely on. This may change as graduates of the University begin to age.

"We're becoming more financially independent, and we're thinking about what kind of legacy we want to leave," he said. "Brandeis, I think, is and will continue increasingly to be, a beneficiary of that."

Reinharz acknowledged the increase in alumni donations as a positive development but stressed that "it will be years before alumni giving overtakes gifts from older friends."

Gifts from "friends" of the University-donors who have no alumni ties-went up 15 percent to $29.5 million this year.

Recent fundraising success has also helped secure future financial growth, with $63.3 million in pledges of support for future donations collected this year.