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May 02, 2008, 03:00 PM ET
Building Delay Does Not Indicate Fund-Raising Stumbles, Lehigh U. Official Says
Lehigh University cleared up our speculation about what had led the institution to delay its $55-million science building by a year.
Joe Kender, Jr., the vice president for advancement at Lehigh, said that the delay is not the result of a lead donor’s backing out or of the university’s being behind in its fund raising. In fact, quite the opposite.
“We’re on track for a record year in fund raising,” Mr. Kender said this afternoon. “We’re going to probably raise $70-million or close to it, which will by far break our all-time record.”
The reason the building was delayed, he said, was that it was not originally part of the current $500-million capital campaign and that fund raising for the project got started late. There is not — and has never been — a lead donor for the building.
So when Mr. Kender arrived at Lehigh from Saint Joseph’s University three months ago, “in assessing where we were, and in assessing our ability to raise 100 percent of the pledges in time, we all agreed to give this another year,” he said.
And unlike other college officials, who may be looking at the economy and their building plans with some trepidation, Mr. Kender expects flush years to continue into the future. He believes that strong enrollments, a new president, a strategic-planning process, and an energized board will attract donors for other projects at Lehigh.
When he was at Georgetown University shortly after 9/11, he did some studies on the impact of the capital markets on philanthropy, and he found that there was little correlation. “When you see enormous spikes, philanthropy usually goes up, but not at the same pace. And when there are downturns, philanthropy doesn’t go down — in fact, there is some evidence that philanthropy increases.” —Scott Carlson
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