Eric Wang

The University raised $826.8 million in gifts and new pledges and set a record of $662.8 million in cash receipts in the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to University President Peter Salovey.

In a University-wide email on Wednesday, Salovey announced that Yale raised the second highest amount of new commitments in the last academic year, second only to those in the final year of the last capital campaign in 2011 when the University raised $861.9 million. Adjusted for inflation using a calculator published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, $826.8 in 2019 dollars is equal to roughly $728.6 million in 2011 dollars.

Of the total amount raised, $435 million — or 53 percent — was directed to Yale’s endowment, which supports professorships, scholarships, curricular development and other University priorities, Salovey said. Salovey reported that $100.9 million will be directed to financial aid, of which $38.7 million will go to students in Yale College. The remaining $62.2 million will be distributed among the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the twelve professional schools.

“These fundraising achievements are a thrilling endorsement of the academic priorities we set together as a university,” Salovey wrote in the email. “From scholarship on our democracy to research on how the universe began, our faculty and students are working collaboratively, boldly, and wisely to solve some of the greatest challenges in our nation and the world.”

Salovey’s announcement comes as the University gears up for the new capital campaign — Yale’s next major fundraising push. 2018-19 was the first year for the silent phase of the campaign — a time when University officials typically solicit gifts from a number of wealthy alumni in the months leading up to the campaign’s public launch. According to Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development Joan O’Neill, the upcoming campaign — which is currently scheduled to launch in 2021 — will not go public until the University raises at least 40 percent of its overall funding goal.

Earlier this year, the Yale Office of Development ceased to release University-wide donation statistics to members of the University Cabinet — a key advisory body for University President Peter Salovey. The lack of transparency surrounding quarterly fundraising results, coupled with underperformance in the first quarter in the 2018-19 fiscal year, raised concerns among members of the Yale community.

“Enterprises with great resources should have aspirations that make the status quo unacceptable,” former School of Management Dean Ted Snyder said in a statement to the News last April. “While Yale continues to progress on many fronts, a relevant question is whether these steps have generated excitement, momentum, and an overarching sense of purpose.”

But in an email on Thursday, Salovey boasted a successful year of fundraising and thanked alumni, parents and friends of the University for their generosity. In addition to setting the record for the second highest amount of new commitments altogether, the Yale Alumni Fund set a record with $42.9 million in annual contributions.

In August 2018, the University announced a donation of $160 million from Edward Bass ’68 for the renovation of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. This donation was not factored into the year’s fundraising report, but this spring, the University also signed a gift agreement with John Jackson ’67 for the new professional school for global affairs. Though the amount Jackson donated has not been disclosed, that value was factored into the year’s calculation.

According to the Yale Investments Office, the University had an endowment of $29.4 billion as of June 30, 2018.

John Besche | john.besche@yale.edu