Philanthropy Advances Academic Programs, Leadership

Alumni invest in scholarship and teaching, student experiences, and financial aid.

Alumni, parents, and friends offered powerful support of programs across Dartmouth in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2017, making new gifts and commitments of $285.6 million—one of the highest totals in the school’s history.

Overall, commitments exceeded the College’s five-year average by nearly $60 million. Among the philanthropic highlights of the past year:

• An $80 million gift, the second largest ever to Dartmouth, to establish an interdisciplinary institute to study the intersection of energy and society
• A significant expansion of support for study-abroad programs
• Innovative new giving programs for women and entrepreneurs
• Grants in support of house communities and their programming
• Endowed professorships and coaching positions that recognize excellence in teaching and mentoring

Alumni demonstrated their support through strong engagement with programs across the country and in Hanover, including record-setting attendance at reunions in June...

... The three professional schools have recorded significant philanthropic achievements during the past year. The Tuck School of Business raised a record $31.1 million overall, indicating strong enthusiasm for the school’s transformative values. Total giving to the Geisel School of Medicine was $15.4 million, with alumni participation and unrestricted giving both up from the previous year. And Thayer School of Engineering, with $10.4 million in total support, had a record-breaking number of leadership donors to its annual fund, which raised $1.5 million. In addition, nearly 300 alumni and friends have joined Thayer’s 150th Anniversary Giving Circle.

A Major Institute Is Created

Dartmouth announced the creation of the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society to advance understanding of how energy resources power modern life and directly affect a society’s standard of living. A lead gift of $80 million was made to launch the institute by Irving Oil; the Arthur L. Irving Family Foundation; and Arthur L. Irving, his wife, Sandra Irving, and their daughter, Sarah Irving ’10, Tuck ’14. Alumni and friends contributed $33 million toward the total institute goal of $160 million.

“The institute represents everything that is great about Dartmouth: the ability to bring students and faculty together to find solutions, drive innovation, tread new paths—to always think big, create the leaders of tomorrow, and inspire the world,” Sarah Irving said at the institute’s announcement ceremony in September.

In June, the College announced the appointment of Elizabeth Wilson, a leading scholar of energy, technology, law, and business at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, to serve as the institute’s first director.