The University received $72 million in donations during fiscal 2010, the sixth year of the past 10 in which Brandeis secured $70 million or more in philanthropic support, according to an Aug. 11 BrandeisNOW press release.Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement Nancy Winship explained in an interview with the Justice that the $72 million mainly resulted from fundraising in three areas of the University: the Annual Fund, the endowment and the fund for Capital Projects. These areas are funded by donations to the University by friends of the University, parents and alumni.

According to the BrandeisNOW press release, three significant grants were made for research in the sciences that totaled nearly $3 million, alumni from the 11 reunion classes raised nearly $3 million and the newly graduated Class of 2010 made a gift of $12,238, the third-largest senior class gift in school history. According to vice president of development Myles Weisenberg '78, the large gift from the graduating class was the result of the efforts of the Office of Development, who emphasized the that "the size of the gift is not as important as actually making a gift," in an effort to encouraging more young graduates to give back.

Winship also said that $10.4 million was raised for the Annual Fund. Winship described the annual fund as a resource for "current use financial aid: financial aid that can be used now-this year-to fund students."

The University, which accepts students regardless of their financial need, amassed $46 million of financial aid last year from the Annual Fund and endowment and was consequently able to provide aid to more than 70 percent of enrolled students.

"Moving forward, this university will be focusing ... on endowment and current [use funds] rather than Capital [Projects]," Winship explained.

Alumni, parents and friends of Brandeis University are the main constituencies for Brandeis fundraising, with friends - non-affiliated supporters of Brandeis -accounting for anywhere from 55-60% of annual fundraising, according to Winship.

"Someday, when the alumni are older, we will be able to say that most of our support comes from alumni," said Winship, explaining that even if many alumni choose to donate, "it'll be another few decades before alumni have the capacity to give" sizable monetary gifts to their alma mater. However, the 2010 U.S. News and World Best National Universities list ranked Brandeis 24th out of 260 ranked universities in alumni giving, with 30 percent of Brandeis alumni choosing to give back to the University.

Winship maintained that although fiscal 2010 "was a very good year, . it was not nearly what the University needed" in terms of fundraising.

"What was difficult for us was the economy, especially in the month of June when most people make their gifts, the market started being very volatile and spooking people," Winship explained. She noted thaT "the pledge pipeline went way down," in the past fiscal year as a result of the resignation of University President Jehuda Reinharz last fall.

"We had a good year, but what that means is that we met our plan, which won't change the way the University operates. it was an outstanding effort but it was just one year," said Chairman of the Board of Trustees Malcolm Sherman in an interview with the Justice.

Although the University exceeded its goal in fundraising for 2010, no large-scale differences will take place on campus, according to both Winship and Sherman.

Sherman also expressed confidence that the University would continue to make strides in the fundraising arena, noting that "we have the kind of organization that could very likely make [more good fundraising years] happen."

Aside from annual fundraising goals, the endowment is an important savings aspect of finances at the University level. Winship said that the endowment is a priority that is beginning to surface after being pushed aside, explaining that the endowment can only provide 5 percent of its total value towards current use funding, and alumni have "realized that the most important priority at the Unviersity now is to support the students we have."

In May 2008, the Board of Trustees proposed an endowment campaign goal of over $1 billion dollars, making Brandeis the youngest private institution to set such an objective. Currently, the University is 75 percent of the way to creating a $1.22 billion endowment by year 2013 or 2014, according to the Office of Development.

"Until the University is able to raise a billion-dollar endowment for financial aid, we aren't where we need to be," said Winship of the endowment campaign.