Fund for Academic Renewal
Responding to growing alumni concern about declining academic standards, on May 22, 1996, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni launched a new vehicle for alumni giving—the Fund for Academic Renewal.
The Fund helps donors locate projects that reflect their educational values, draft appropriate restrictions, and monitor results. It provides alumni with assistance on how to target their giving to excellent academic programs that exemplify the highest academic standards, an unpoliticized approach to education, a commitment to the study of the greatest achievements of human civilization and a critical appreciation of the heritage and principles of a free society.
From ACTA's perspective, donors who give wisely are helping us achieve our mission.
How Does the Fund Work?
Donors can use the services of the Fund in various ways:
- General Account: Unrestricted gifts to the Fund for Academic Renewal support projects that are national in scope and impact, identified by the FAR in consultation with faculty and administrators.
- College Accounts: College accounts sustain and encourage academic freedom and excellence and seek to benefit specified institutions and their students—on and off campus. Alumni who donate to college accounts are able to pool their donations with others contributing to the same fund to assure a bigger bang for their buck. Over the years, ACTA has supported worthwhile projects benefiting a variety of institutions including Hamilton, Bucknell, William and Mary, and Colgate.
- Special Purpose Accounts (such a Great Books, classical economics, Western Civilization): Special purpose accounts allow donors to support particular subject areas in higher education, such as Great Books, classical economics, Western Civilization, religious studies, and others. Alumni who donate to special purpose accounts can combine their resources with others contributing to the same fund to assure a greater effect on their field of interest.
- Restricted Accounts: FAR accepts restricted gifts in amounts over $10,000 if the gifts fit the mission and goals of ACTA and are approved by the Directors.
Advice to Donors
ACTA is ready to provide donors with valuable information and advice, using a network of on-campus contacts and resources savvy in identifying possible pitfalls in dealing with higher education. In this way, ACTA can help identify specific projects that fit donors’ charitable goals and monitor implementation. In exchange for such services, ACTA requires no compensation but does suggest contributions in support of ACTA’s work.
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Profiles of Successful Gifts
With ACTA input, donors are drafting agreements which provide specific payout schedules, restricted uses, and annual reporting requirements. Some are creating new course offerings, while others make it possible for faculty to pursue research interests for which other funds are not available. The following are examples of gifts helped by the Fund.
Duke alumnus Gary Gerst was planning to give to the engineering school’s general fund. Through discussions with the Fund for Academic Renewal, he became aware of the problem of fungibility: his gift could be siphoned off to support other university activities. Instead, he gave $750,000 over six years to establish a remarkable undergraduate program on “Liberty, Democracy, and Free Markets.” Duke is now continuing the program on its own, with the help of a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
A $25,000 gift by Harvard alumnus Robert Krupp was directed to support a new translation of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America by professor Harvey Mansfield.
Bill and Bond DeLoache, trustees of the Joe C. Davis Foundation, felt that Vanderbilt students graduated without understanding of free markets. The foundation gave $150,000 over three years to create a course on “Liberty” that places the study of free markets in the context of the political philosophy of freedom.
Some of the institutions benefited by donors who use the Fund for Academic Renewal are:
Brooklyn College
Carnegie Mellon University
College of William and Mary
Colgate University
Cornell University
Harvard University
Hamilton College
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Smith College
University of California at Berkeley
University of North Carolina
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt University
In identifying the best use of grant funds, ACTA draws on its distinguished advisors that include university presidents, philanthropic leaders, and outstanding scholars. In addition, ACTA has access to extensive networks of scholars that reach hundreds of colleges and universities across the country.
For more information, please contact Anne Neal, American Council of Trustees and Alumni, at (202) 467-6787, or e-mail aneal@goacta.org.