Private Voluntary Support to Public Universities in the United States: An Early History

Abstract

Recent trends in voluntary support of higher education indicate that public institutions are in greater competition for limited philanthropic resources with private institutions, at times blurring the distinction between public and private institutions, especially in the area of fund raising and institutional advancement. The question arises whether public institutions historically have relied on private voluntary support and how the pattern of support developed in response to the expanding requirements of these institutions over time. This study explores the early history of private voluntary support of public research universities in the United States from the time of the chartering of the first state university in 1785 through much of the antebellum period. This early history indicates that the first state universities, without a model for a type of institution free from sectarian control and reliant on the state for support, followed patterns of raising support established by the colonial colleges and relied on a combination of public and private support. These patterns provide the foundation for good practice in fund raising today.