Fundraising up at medical colleges

The country’s medical colleges saw an increase in fundraising last year. They also saw an increase in fundraising costs.

Respondents to the 2013 national benchmarking survey of fundraising trends for members of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported a 16.2 percent increase in philanthropic support and a 5.2 percent increase in average costs.

[See also: Infographic: Fundraising trends at the nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals.]

“This yearly survey now goes back to 1999,” said Bob Alsobrook, senior executive vice president and managing director of Grenzeback, Glier and Associates, the AAMC’s survey consultant. “Private gift support continues to be an important source of revenue for member institutions. It is an important part of the overall strategy for funding and financing programs at these institutions.”

AAMC’s 2013 Annual Development Survey analyzed data collected from 137 institutions. One of the more important findings was the rise of the mean to $54.4 million for total private support among all reporting medical schools and teaching hospitals. This was the first overall increase in fundraising at academic medical centers in the last six years.

“I think this shows that donors value and appreciate the role of medical schools and hospitals and what we do for patients,” said Larry Schafer, vice provost for external affairs at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. “The numbers were up and that is a positive. That encouraged people like me to figure out how these increases will effect institutional planning, priorities and fundraising strategies going forward.”

The results showed that 85 percent of the gifts came from individual private donors who were unaffiliated with the medical school or teaching hospital. This resulted in an average of $18.2 million per institution. The remaining 15 percent from individuals was from institution’s alumni and staff.

“The largest proportion of private support is often designated to help with funding current operations,” said Alsobrook. “Another important level of support is dedicated toward capital projects and endowment funds. The median gift for medical student scholarships increased 20 percent to $1.1 million per institution.”

While the results of the survey reflected good news overall, they also revealed that the cost of raising funds is creeping up. From 2012 to 2013, fundraising costs increased 5.2 percent. Contributing to that increase was the cost of personnel, which went up from a mean of $3.3 million to $3.5 million.

However, the cost per dollar raised remains unchanged. Alsobrook suggested that the increase in total gifts offset the added costs so the money expended for each dollar that came in stayed the same.

“Philanthropy is increasingly an important part of academic medicine and how we fund new programs, recruit additional faculty, build new buildings and support our students,” said Schafer. “While these partnerships have always been important, the significant drop in funding from the National Institutes of Health means that their importance will continue to grow and this is where development professionals will focus our energy.”