The main source of Harvard's success in fund-raising, according to Reardon, is in the willingness of alumni to volunteer their time. The alumni who make calls to big donors are not paid.

But the University attempts to make its helpers happy by doing things to make them feel appreciated. Some of them are invited to events held to honor donors of large gifts.

Others are recognized through the mass of publicity which the development office puts out to try to focus on the volunteers more. Getz, for example, received the second most pledges of any College Fund fund-raiser and was given credit for his achievement in the fundraising bulletin sent out by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Once the proper person has been chosen to make the approach, the attempt is finally made to get the money.

"You call the person--who you already are an acquaintance of--and say you want to see them and let them know what your goal is," Malkin says. "Tell them why you think it's worthy and why it's really needed.... It's not easy to get them to give, but you tell them what you've done and why it's a wonderful opportunity to be associated with the best university in the world."

"One year I gave 10 percent of my income," Monrad remembers. "If you tell someone who makes $100,000 that, they feel they have to give $10,000 to be competitive. Most successful people are competitive, and they also compete in giving away their money."

Monrad adds that some gifts come in because people like to show off how well they are doing. "I've heard this happens at the Business School--even though I'm sure they'd deny it," Monrad says half-jokingly.

"At Harvard it's not fashionable to gush support, but it is to give money," Gordon adds. "At other places it's vice versa."

For most donors, though, the fundraiser merely builds on an already present commitment to Harvard.

"You give because you connect with it, no matter what anybody tells you," says Richard L. Menachel, one of the University Campaign co-chairs.

According to fundraisers, the largest contributions come from "old friends," and thus all that needs to be done is request money from those already familiar with the process. Even then, though, as Monrad says, "you gotta ask or you're not gonna get."

Part of being a successful fund-raiser is the key skill of knowing what to ask for. That's where the development office's research becomes important.

The person asking knows how much the target can potentially give and can make appeals to any specific interests from University days which a donation could further.

Reardon emphasizes that in most cases the essence of fund-raising is fitting people to their desires.

"Most people want to focus on the human aspect," Reardon says. "In the last campaign, the most money went to financial aid, with chaired professorships next and physical plant contributions last."