In the present campaign, the naming of a chaired professorship cost about $2.5 million and the naming of an independent scholarship fund would require at least a $100,000 donation.

Harvard? Need Money?

Harvard's moneyed reputation can be a hindrance in fundraising. Many people doubt that Harvard actually does need money and one of a fundraiser's main jobs is to convince the target that a gift is really important.

"The people really have to believe the money is necessary," O'Donnell says. "As a scholarship kid I see it as necessary to continue the need-blind admissions that are so important to me."

O'Donnell says there are a few basic things that convince people that the money really is necessary.

One is making the donor realize that the real cost of a student is far greater than the tuition; the University has to subsidize tuition even for full-paying students. O'Donnell says he also focuses on the need to make Harvard accessible to everyone through financial aid.

Reardon is careful to point out that Harvard is "huge...bigger than Yale, Princeton and Amherst put together," and that though its endowment is the largest in the country, its per-student endowment is not. The endowment only pays for a relatively small part of the $1.4 billion annual operating budget.

In the College, a student paying full tuition, room and board fees turns over about $25,000 per year. The actual per-student cost, however, is higher, with estimates ranging from Rudenstine's $35,000 to $50,000, according to Lynn G. Fakes, director of the Parents' Fund.

Beyond Money

Assuming a donor is successful in obtaining a contribution, the University fundraising structure immediately attempts to indoctrinate the donor and to increase his or her involvement.

In order to do this, Harvard has developed an extraordinary number of methods. As Gordon puts it, "Some people like ego massaging and Harvard is a great place for it."

"Successful people particularly resent people just taking their money," Monrad says.

Harvard differs from many other universities, though, by limiting the degree of reciprocity that can be expected from a contribution.

"There is no quid pro quo per se," Getz says. "At Harvard, a donor's place is to [donate], not run the University."

According to a development officer, Ivy League schools are accused of taking the children of large contributors, but Harvard, aided by its riches, does not have to do such things.