Fiscal Year 2014 Development Results

July 29, 2014

To The Cooper Community,

With thanks to the alumni, parents and friends of Cooper, I am pleased to report the following results of our fundraising efforts for the fiscal year from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. We received an overall cash total of $13.49 million, a 35% increase over $9.99 million cash total in the previous fiscal year. Alumni gifts accounted for 55% of the total, or $7.40 million.

$2.98 million of the $13.49 million consisted of gifts to the Annual Fund, exceeding the $2.76 million budgeted goal for the Annual Fund by 8%. By dollars, 67% of Annual Fund giving was from alumni ($1.99 million), 11% from parents ($.33 million), and 22% from matching gifts, non-alumni trustees, friends, and students ($.66 million). Alumni participation (all giving to all funds) was 22%, compared with 23% in the previous fiscal year.

It is important to note that two multi-million dollar bequests and two $1 million gifts were among the major gifts received in 2014, reflecting the extraordinary personal commitment of Cooper alumni and their families.

Thanks to the alumni, parents and friends dedicated to advancing this great institution, and the focused and coordinated work of our Alumni Affairs & Development team, we can all be proud of the progress made this year in realizing the resources necessary to pave the way for Cooper's bright future.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.