While the world toasted the new millennium on January 1, Harvard's development officers celebrated their own milestone: the end of the first University-wide capital campaign.

The campaign exceeded even Harvard's unprecedented ambitions. Buoyed by a decade of economic growth and stock market gains, donors contributed almost $2.7 billion in six years, beating Harvard's goal by more than half a billion dollars.

President Neil L. Rudenstine announced the campaign had met its goal more than three months early at an October 6 reception for large donors at the Harvard Club of New York.

"It's a goal greater than any other institution of higher learning in the history of the human race," Rudenstine said in October.

The numbers themselves tell an impressive tale. By the campaign's official end on Dec. 31, 1999, it had raised $2.653 billion from 174,378 gifts. In the last seven months alone, it raised $640 million.

Not only did the University as a whole surpass its goal, but each of the University's nine schools exceeded their individual benchmarks.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) was the last school to meet the target. But in a year, FAS moved from being $48 million short of its $965 million goal at last year's Commencement to exceeding it by $157 million.

According to Rudenstine, such success was certainly not automatic.

"So there is always a risk that the show will flop, and ours certainly had no guarantee of success," Rudenstine said in May. "We faced--almost inevitably--a profusion of potential difficulties."

While Harvard passed the donation plate to all its alumni, the most money came from the wealthiest few; 75 percent of the money raised came from gifts of over $1 million. The largest gift, from John L. Loeb '24, brought in more than $70 million.

"The bar has gone way up," said Rita E. Hauser, a national campaign chair who is herself a $30 million donor, at the New York ceremony. "Before this, if someone gave a million, it was considered a huge gift."

An expert in university fundraising said such success was not simply a result of the surging stock market. He noted total giving does not surge or plummet based on the ups and downs of the market.

But the rising stock prices have caused many more gifts to be given by donors in appreciated stock. Last year 40 percent of gifts were paid in stock versus 23 percent 10 years ago.

"Undoubtedly it [stock market appreciation] helped the campaign," said Development Office spokesperson Andrew K. Tiedemann.

The University started spending the campaign funds almost immediately. Early-stage projects like the renovation of Annenberg Hall, the creation of the Barker Center out of the old Harvard Union and renovations of the Yard Dorms have been completed.