Corporation Support for Dartmouth

CORPORATION giving to higher education, and particularly to liberal arts colleges, has enjoyed an amazing growth in the past seven years. It was in 1947 that the National Industrial Conference Board, in reporting on a survey of philanthropic practices in business and industry, observed that "corporate contributions to colleges and universities are not generally accepted as a proper expenditure of corporate funds."

The year 1947 was almost the last in which such remarks held the center of the stage. In the next few years such industrial leaders as Frank W. Abrams of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, Laird Bell of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Henry Ford II of Ford Motor Company, Irving S. Olds of U. S. Steel and Alfred P. Sloan of General Motors published articles in leading magazines urging corporations to assume a responsibility for sustaining the private institutions of learning.

In 1951 Beardsley Ruml '15 and Theodore Geiger wrote a pamphlet for the National Planning Association entitled TheFive Percent which urged, a substantial increase in corporate philanthropy to education.

In the meantime President Frank H. Sparks of Wabash College had successfully launched "The Associated Colleges of Indiana, Inc." as a cooperative venture by the private institutions of the state to attract corporate gifts. He succeeded so well that within four years similar organizations had sprung up covering 28 slates. Among them was the New England Colleges Fund which Dartmouth helped to organize in 195™ to the end that New England industry, might be enlisted in the growing program.

Two major forward steps occurred in 1953. A group of leading industrialists sponsored the organization of the Council for Financial Aid to Education and secured the services of Dr. Wilson M. Compton as its president. The purpose of the Council, in Dr. Compton's words, was "to promote better understanding between American business and institutions of higher education; to advise corporations, other organizations and the public of financial needs of the colleges and universities; to counsel both business and educational institutions on ways and means of providing financial support; and to encourage the programs of other organizations having similar objectives."

Also in that year the Supreme Court of New Jersey upheld the legality of a corporate gift to Princeton in a case which the stockholders had appealed. Subsequently the U. S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal on the decision and thus corporate giving passed its first major legal test.

With that roadblock cleared and with powerful voices being raised in support of giving by corporations, it was natural that 1954 should have seen major developments. By the end of the year such industrial giants as General Electric, General Motors, U. S. Steel, General Foods and Standard Oil Company of New Jersey had announced plans for giving to colleges. The significant aspect of these programs, apart from their magnitude, was the fact that they brought to the colleges funds which were either unrestricted or were not tied beyond such general allocations as scholarship aid. The old hurdle of the quid pro quo philosophy had finally been passed.

Dartmouth has been active in promoting these developments and has begun to share substantially in their fruits. The organization of the New England Colleges Fund has already been mentioned. Its first organized solicitations were conducted during the latter part of 1953 and yielded about $50,000, of which Dartmouth's share was $3,700. In its first full year of work, 1954, it received roughly $100,000 and Dartmouth will receive about $7,500 as its portion under the allocation formula.

The College in 1954 organized its own corporation plan, directed principally to smaller closely held companies, under which participating corporations might make unrestricted gifts or establish scholarships. In both cases the College undertook to make certain services available to them regularly.

This plan was developed and promoted under the aegis of the Alumni Council's Committee on Corporations, Foundations and Special Gifts, headed by Carl B. Hess '34 and including as members John H. Davis Jr. '25 and Nichol M. Sandoe '19. During 1954 it was presented mainly to corporations in Chicago, Cleveland, Hartford and New York City. The results for the first year were encouraging and should grow substantially in the future.

The College has also presented its case to as many of the major corporations as possible with the result that Dartmouth has fared well in many of the plans for educational support announced during recent months. For example, Dartmouth received the maximum amount, $5,000, under the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey plan, $4,000 from Columbia Broadcasting System, $2,500 from du Pont, $2,000 from Westinghouse, and $1,500 from Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

For certain special projects the College received $5,000 from Ford Motor Company and equipment valued at $33,000 as an anonymous gift from another firm.

The total of all corporate gifts to Dartmouth during the year was $75,000, an increase of more than $30,000 over the previous year. Present indications are that 1955 will see still further increases. The General Motors program recently announced provides three scholarships at Dartmouth, each worth up to $2,000 and each carrying an additional grant-in-aid to the College of $800. The New England Colleges Fund will also receive $10,000 from General Motors.

General Electric Corporation has announced its Corporate Alumnus Plan under which it will match the giving of its employees, up to $1,000 each, to institutions of which they are graduates. This new development in corporate help for education is expected to be emulated by other concerns during the coming year, and with the loyalty and generosity regularly shown by Dartmouth alumni through the Alumni Fund, and through many other forms of giving to the College, it seems likely that there will be a substantial increase in corporate gifts from this source during the coming year.

This brief review indicates how rapidly this form of support for the colleges has grown and perhaps suggests that its full impact is still some years away. It seems unlikely that such corporate giving can entirely solve the financial problems of private colleges, but their help, added to the fully developed earning power of the institutions themselves and the generous gifts of alumni and friends, may well assure the continued strength and freedom of these vital institutions of higher learning.

We are proud to list below those corporations which made gifts to Dartmouth during 1954, noting as we do so that the list does not include gifts to the Alumni Fund or to Class Memorial Funds where personal gifts were made through corporate funds.

Alloy Steel Products, Incorporated Alton Canning Company C. F. Burns & Son Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. Harry C. Davis and Company E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company Fund Gardner-Denver Company General Electric Company Gulf Oil Corporation Hawkridge Brothers Company Hercules Powder Company Hubbard Westervelt and Mottelay, Inc. Arthur A. Johnson Corporation Lederle Laboratories Division of American Cyanamid Lockheed Leadership Fund J. M. Mathes, Incorporated Metropolitan Distributors, Inc. New England Colleges Fund North American Cement Company Pierce-Crook Chevrolet, Inc. James M. Pierce Corporation Raisler Corporation Sanborn Company Smith Oil Refining Company Smith Oil Transportation Company Sprague Electric Company Standard Milling Company Standard Oil Company of New Jersey United Piece Dye Works Van Dyne Oil Company, Inc. Walsh-Langenfelder Company Westinghouse Educational Foundation Young and Rubicam, Inc.