Drive Needs $12.5 Million To Hit Quota

Fund raisers for the Program for Harvard College must collect $12.5 million from wealthy alumni within the next two months to finish the program on schedule, the Completion Committee reported yesterday.

Since the beginning of September, the Program has received $1.2 million, much of it in small gifts. With general solicitation of alumni officially ended, the Completion Committee, directed by Henry U. Harris '23 and Thomas S. Lamont '21, will attempt to obtain the remaining funds from a selected 1,000 wealthy alumni and friends of the College.

Few Large Gifts Made

Although some wealthy donors have contributed substantially, the total number of large gifts has fallen far short of precedents established in comparable drives at other institutions.

In recent campaigns at other colleges the 1000 biggest gifts have usually accounted for about 94 per cent of the money raised. In the Program drive the top 1000 gifts have furnished only 57 per cent of the total.

According to H. Irving Pratt '26, General Chairman of the Program, this discrepancy may be the result of the unusually large size of the Program goal.

Potential large-scale donors will be given the added inducement of perpetuating their names at the College by establishing specific scholarships or professorships through the Program.

Regional leaders of the Completion Committee, according to Harris, its co-chairman, have expressed strong determination to finish their task by Christmas to allow graduate schools the chance to complete their own fund drives.