Princeton Raises Record $1.88 Billion in Campaign Begun in 2007

Princeton University raised a record $1.88 billion in its fundraising campaign, exceeding its goal.

More than 65,000 donors, including alumni, corporations, foundations and parents, made 271,559 separate gifts since the effort was introduced in November 2007, according to a statement on Princeton’s website today.

“The success of this collective effort to strengthen the university to better serve the nation and the world is a tribute to the dedication, enthusiasm and generosity of our alumni, parents and friends,” Shirley M. Tilghman, Princeton’s president, said in the statement.

More than 77 percent of all undergraduate alumni donated to the school, one of eight members of the Ivy League in the northeastern U.S. Alumni include First Lady Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Princeton’s endowment was valued at $17.1 billion as of June 30, 2011. It is the fourth largest in higher education, behind Harvard University and Yale University, both Ivy League members; and the University of Texas system, according to data collected by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund Institute.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Lorin in New York jlorin@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lisa Wolfson at lwolfson@bloomberg.net.