“We are seeing people reluctant to make new commitments,” Groves said. “People that typically would be willing at this juncture to consider a new gift or commitment to a new building or start creating a new endowment, they’re saying ‘this isn’t a good time for me to make that commitment.’”

Groves said he could not provide specific figures through the first few months of the year because University Advancement doesn’t report numbers until the end of the fiscal year.

Groves said the uncertainty surrounding the economy has made some people wary of pledging money years into the future. Secondly, many donors who make large donations more than $25,000 do so with capital from investments.

Because of the stock market’s downturn, Groves said, many donors’ investments aren’t healthy enough to make donations.

“Just as you don’t want to sell your stock when it’s down, you don’t want to give it away when it’s down,” Groves said. “You have kind of a double whammy.”

Groves said although donors have been hesitant to make new financial commitments, those who have already pledged money are still planning to follow through. Many donors who contribute donations of $25,000 or more do so over a number of years.

In terms of smaller gifts, Groves said the university is running about even as compared to previous years.

“We may be even up slightly in terms of the number of donors but we are seeing them come through with smaller gifts,” Groves said.

2010 could be worse

Ann Kaplan, director of the Council for Aid to Education’s Voluntarily Support of Education survey, said it’s possible that 2010 could be a worse year for donations than this year.

The CAE compared today’s economic recession to that of the recession in the early to mid-1970s.

During that time, there was a consecutive three-year recession where giving to higher education went down two years in a row but recovered as soon as the economy recovered.

“Giving went down for two years (in the 1970s),” Kaplan said. “It recovered immediately when the economy recovered. That’s not so bad. People are looking at things being a little worse now.”

Although the economy has a number of donors pinched for cash, MSU Trustee George Perles said recent successes by the university will encourage donors to continue their support.

“In getting a contract for the Cyclotron (FRIB) and getting a contract with IBM, a lot of good things have happened,” Perles said. “I don’t really see (donations) going down at all.”

In spite of Perles’ optimism, Groves said it could take some time to recover from any decline in donations.

“If a lot of people have to pull back, it’ll take a number of years to build back a steady drum beat of those larger gifts,” he said.