This means that the schools cannot rely on the generosity of their alumni and instead must pursue other means.

"[At other schools] a lot of time is spent going to alumni who have done very well," said GSE Dean Jerome T. Murphy. "Reciprocity is not what we are about. [Our alumni] have nothing to give back."

Murphy says that instead the GSE tries to promote itself as a means to fixing the problems of America's schools. The school solicits donors based on specific issues addressed by the school, not on love for the school itself.

"It's hard to sell the school at large," Murphy says. "People are less interested in schools than problems or people. I try to get them to invest in early childhood education."

Susan Sherwin, associate dean for development in the Divinity School, says that there have been meetings in the past between the small schools to collaborate on strategies for fundraising, but ultimately that raising money at smaller schools happens "with difficulty."

All schools raise money through the traditional method of mass mailings and holding alumni events in Boston, across the United States and abroad. Divinity school graduates, for example, receive upwards of 8-10 mailings a year detailing current news in the school and asking for money.

But as always with the smaller schools, even normal interactions can take a bizarre twist.

Murphy himself donated $10,000 to the fund earlier this year in the hopes of sparking other faculty to give to the school, a gesture that was rewarded by an exceptionally tasteful thank you note from the development office.

The office prepared a large dry marker board with a message of thanks, punctuated at key intervals by candy bars which added a human touch to the message.

"It gave great Almond Joy to hear of your gift of 10 Grand to the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Capital Campaign," the sign reads. "Your Chunky generosity, along with Mounds of support from others, will launch the school into the Milky Way."

Dividing up the Pie

As is true with the capital campaign as a whole, the fact that the smaller schools are basically on target in reaching their goals does not guarantee that all aspects of the programs will raise the money that they need.

In the Divinity School, for example, funds are desperately needed for the renovation of the Andover-Harvard Theological Library. Other schools, including the FAS, have been plagued with difficulties in raising money for their libraries during this campaign.

Of the $45 million the Divinity School is trying to raise, $5.5 million, or 12 percent, is allotted to capital projects, a fund which was intended to cover the maintenance and renovation of the school as a whole, particularly Andover Hall, which, in addition to the library, includes many classrooms and offices.

But in January of last year, the faculty approved an $8-10 million plan to renovate the library, a project which Sherwin calls "an enormous challenge."