Harvard donations dropped nearly 15% amid wealthy alums' vows to cut off support

• Harvard donations are down following a year of campus turmoil.
• The university released its FY 2024 financial report this week.
• Harvard's endowment saw a 9.6% return on investment, but philanthropic gifts declined.

Harvard saw a dip in donations in the most recent fiscal year amid a wave of big-name backers pulling their financial support after fallout from the university's response to the Israel-Hamas war.

In fiscal year 2024, which ended June 30, the Ivy League institution brought in just under $1.2 billion in cash gifts, according to a Harvard financial report released Thursday. That figure represents a nearly 15% drop since fiscal year 2023, which saw the school reap just under $1.4 billion, according to the report.

The decrease in year-over-year donations at the university follows a tumultuous year of tense campus protests and high-level administrative turnover in the aftermath of the crisis in the Middle East.

Some wealthy alumni publicly vowed to suspend donations to Harvard following the university's bungled response to the campus unrest that spread across higher education institutions nationwide last year.

"As the University addressed long-standing challenges that were highlighted by the events of the past year, alumni and others demonstrated both their concern and their care for the future of the institution through growing levels of support over the course of the year," Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement shared with Business Insider on Thursday.

Garber celebrated other aspects of the financial report, including a 9.6% investment return for the school's endowment which is valued at $53.2 billion — the largest in the country.

Earlier this month, Garber hinted at the coming downturn in donations, telling the university's student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, that the year's commitments were "disappointing" compared to prior years. He had privately warned about a decline in philanthropic gifts as far back as March, the student outlet reported.

The drop in donations since FY 2023 represents the biggest dip in the last nine years, Bloomberg reported.

Chief Financial Officer Ritu Kalra lauded the university's endowment return in a conversation with Harvard's online public relations arm but cautioned that the fund is not a checking account; it's 14,600 different endowments, many of which are delegated to a specific school or program, Kalru said.

"That requires us to spend responsibly from the endowment, as we have to be able to support future generations of students and scholars even if we face periods of lower growth," she said.

The university aims for an 8% endowment return, Kalru said, a figure that is essential in helping to make up the gap left over after tuition revenues and funding research. Tuition for an undergraduate degree at the Ivy League institution these days clocks in at $56,550, according to the university website. That number jumps to more than $80,000 when housing, food, and student services are added.

For the second year in a row, Harvard's operating expenses grew faster than its operating revenues, Karlu said, adding that some of the discrepancy between the two can be explained by long-term, strategic investments, such as improved technology infrastructure and AI capabilities.

"Of course, the pace of our recent spending underscores the need for prudence going forward," she said. "While it has been purposeful in the short term, it won't be sustainable without a commensurate growth in revenue over the long term."

Harvard remains under scrutiny more than a year after Hamas attacked Israel, setting off a flurry of campus protests and turmoil over antisemitism at several Ivy League institutions. Then-Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned in January following a plagiarism scandal sparked by the conflict.