Harvard Holds Donation Lead; Total Declines

Harvard once again received more private donations than any other university in the nation with a total 1973-1974 contribution of $56,826,486, despite an approximately $300,000 decrease from last year.

Chase N.Peterson'52, vice president for alumni affairs and development, said yesterday that Harvard this year is approximately $1 million behind last year's contribution rate.

Impossible to Predict

He said it is impossible to predict Harvard's final figure, but he did say, "If I was putting my money down as a bet, I'd say we will be down, maybe, one and a half to two million dollars."

Yale, meanwhile, second in contributions as compiled by the Council for Financial Aid to Education, Inc., increased its private support last year by more than $10 million to $44,078,008.

The Economy

Schulyer Hollingsworth'40, recording secretary of the University, said yesterday that the "poor state of the economy" was to blame for Harvard's stagnant fund raising last year.

Hollingsworth said that "in this kind of an economic situation" both Yale and Stanford, which have large fund drives, "could overtake Harvard as the most heavily supported school."

No Fund Campaign

Peterson said yesterday that Harvard has no plans to institute a large-scale fund raising campaign, despite the immediate success of the drives of other universities. Hollingsworth said that Harvard will continue its plan of several small-scale campaigns.

Different Drives

"We thought it made sense to have several different drives to probe the different sectors of the economy," he said. "If one drive is not doing well, it won't hurt other drives that are successful."

As of February 7 Yale had achieved $97 million of the five-year goal of $370 million announced last April by Yale President Kingman Brewster. Yale began the drive with a fund of more than $60 million.

Peterson said that both MIT and the University of Chicago could also surpass Harvard in total private contributions, as they will soon announce large capital campaigns.