Princeton University

The total operating budget for 2008–09 included funding for sponsored research at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), which totals $76 million. PPPL operates on a federal fiscal year that ends September 30, 2009.

The Priorities Committee is a committee of the Council of the Princeton University Community and is advisory to the University president. Every year since 1974, the committee has made recommendations regarding the subsequent year’s operating budget. The provost chairs the committee, which also includes the dean of the faculty, the executive vice president, the treasurer, six faculty members, four undergraduates, two graduate students, and one member from one of the other groups represented on the council. In addition, the vice provost for academic programs and the budget director and associate provost for finance meet with the committee.

Princeton’s endowment is the fourth largest in the country, with a value of more than $12.6 billion as of March 31, 2009 (Harvard University, Yale University, and Stanford University have larger endowments). The endowment is invested in a diversified group of assets, including domestic and international stocks and bonds, independent return managers, private equity, venture capital, real estate, and other assets not traded on organized trading markets.

Princeton’s portfolio has historically experienced solid returns. The total return on Princeton’s endowment—defined as “dividends and interest on portfolio holdings, plus or minus capital appreciation or depreciation”—was equivalent to more than 13 percent per year over the 25-year period ending June 30, 2009.

Gifts from undergraduate and graduate alumni, parents, and friends are vital to sustaining Princeton’s historic mission and keeping the University at the forefront of higher education. The generosity of Princetonians of all ages and from every part of the world supports excellence in teaching, innovation in research, and advancement of the University’s long traditions of service.

To sustain and expand its excellence in teaching and research, and to increase the University’s impact on a changing world, Princeton launched a five-year comprehensive fund-raising campaign in 2007.

“Aspire: A Plan for Princeton” focuses on a set of priorities that includes strengthening the core Princeton experience. It is a comprehensive campaign, which means that it seeks to raise unrestricted funds through each year’s Annual Giving effort, as well as dedicated funds to create endowed positions and programs; to support new and existing initiatives; and to enhance the University’s capacities in the critical areas of engineering and the environment, the creative and performing arts, neuroscience, and national and global citizenship, as well as various aspects of residential and academic life.

In recent years, Princeton has greatly expanded its programs of education and scholarship; enhanced the academic, residential, cultural, and athletic facilities of its landmark campus; and continually enhanced its financial aid program to ensure that every student who is admitted to Princeton can attend, regardless of his or her economic circumstances. The undergraduate classes now on campus are among the first to benefit from financial aid policies designed to make the University accessible to students of all backgrounds.

Annual Giving. Critically important to Princeton’s continuing vitality, Annual Giving is at the core of the University’s efforts to seize extraordinary opportunities for learning and discovery, to support the comprehensive financial aid program, to provide funds for new initiatives, and to help meet emerging needs and challenges. Flexible and immediately available, the unrestricted funds raised through Annual Giving provide nearly 10 percent of the overall budget for educational expenses, supporting the University’s core mission.

Since 1940, Annual Giving has raised more than $850 million for Princeton and 89.9 percent of all alumni have participated in Annual Giving at some time. The 2008–09 Annual Giving campaign raised $44.6 million in unrestricted funds, with 57.7 percent of all undergraduate alumni participating. Annual Giving owes its success to an exceptional volunteer effort that reaches out to Princetonians and friends from all over the world through personal meetings, class events, phone calls, mail, and e-mail.