Donor Has Soft Spot for Fixer-Uppers

Even as donors continue to shell out money to build new classrooms and residence halls on college campuses, few people, it seems, want to give money to cover the cost of fixing leaky roofs, peeling paint, or rusty pipes once a building gets old. Indeed, institutions nationwide are playing catch-up when it comes to deferred maintenance.

To Dave Berkus, a trustee at Occidental College, that kind of rat race didn’t make much sense. So he gave $1.25-million to his alma mater to create an endowment for the maintenance of all the buildings on the Los Angeles campus. “This is the neglected stepchild of college fund raising,” said Mr. Berkus, a venture capitalist, in a written statement. “I can’t think of another area in higher education where the need is so great, and the total dollars raised is so small.”

Occidental’s 120-acre campus, designed by the architect Myron Hunt — designer of the Rose Bowl stadium — includes buildings that date back to the campus’s opening, in 1914. Mr. Berkus said he hoped that others would add to the endowment. Although Mr. Berkus’ gift, a combination of cash and securities, is for something not-so-glamorous, the college gave him a little glitz for his money. A student residence hall will soon be known as Berkus House.

How tough is it to solicit donors for money to pay for the maintenance of campus buildings? Should college fund raisers ask donors to pay for building maintenance along with construction costs for their names to appear on buildings?