Law School Begins Public Campaign With a Head Start

Launching its portion of the University’s $6.5 billion capital campaign last among Harvard’s schools last week, Harvard Law School started with unusual, if encouraging, information: After just its quiet phase, the school has raised $241 million, nearly 80 percent of its public goal of $305 million.

This early success, donors and fundraising officials predict, will encourage further support from donors and propel the Law School well through its goal.

Harvard Law School celebrates the launch of its fundraising drive, dubbed "The Campaign for the Third Century," on Friday evening. By Michelle M. Ng

Fresh off its last capital campaign, which raised $476 million and concluded in 2008, the school has altered its strategies and lowered its goal so that it can again successfully fundraise without over-soliciting donors. The Law School campaign’s public phase is also two years shorter than Harvard’s University-wide effort.

And while most schools begin their campaign public phases with about half to two-thirds of their goals reached, the Law School has started further ahead—a fact that James A. Attwood acknowledged when he announced the figure at the launch last Friday.

Donors and fundraising officials say they are confident that this early success will translate into more momentum for the rest of the campaign.

“Now that we’re doing so well, I think more people will join the campaign with greater enthusiasm,” said Morgan Chu, one of the co-chairs of the Law School campaign and a former president of Harvard’s Board of Overseers. For Chu and others involved in the fundraising process, a successful quiet phase makes donating all the more worthwhile.

“If a campaign is materially below expectations at a given point in time, I think it would be more difficult to raise monies,” Chu said.

Peter L. Malkin ’55 agreed, writing in an email that “the unusually large [percent] of the goal achieved during the ‘Quiet Phase’ of the Law School campaign will encourage rather than deter other donors who will want to participate in a successful effort.”

Though reaching the goal may already seem a question of when, not if, Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development Tamara E. Rogers ’74 said significantly exceeding a goal can also have its own benefits.

“Even if they set a goal that they felt was appropriate for the time, it can be certainly very morale boosting to crash through that goal,” she said. “And if they do that or when they do that, more power to them. And in some cases that can perhaps be inspiring [to] donors.”

Michael R. Klein, a member of the Law School dean’s advisory board and donor who already gave the school a $15 million gift, predicted it will substantially exceed the goal. Klein said raising money for the campaign’s priorities—financial aid for students and clinical education—will be more important than just hitting or exceeding a numerical figure.

“They’ll exceed the goal. I wouldn’t be surprised to go 20 percent or 30 percent over the goal,” Klein said.

Steven Oliveira, the Law School’s dean of development and alumni relations, has said administrators will not raise the goal. And with only two years left in its abbreviated campaign, the Law School cannot rest on its laurels quite yet.

“The points look good on the scoreboard, but it’s halftime,” Chu said. “So we’ve got to keep our focus on doing everything we can to make sure we maximize our fundraising as much as possible.”

—Staff writer Andrew M. Duehren can be reached at andy.duehren@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @aduehren.