Despite a $20 million drop in one type of donation, private gifts to the university in fiscal year 2010 remained about the same as the previous year.

Donations fall into two general categories: planned gifts and outright gifts. Planned gifts, also called estate donations, are gifts left by someone who passes away. Outright gifts are immediate, direct donations.

From fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2010, outright gifts dropped dramatically but were balanced by an increase in estate donations.

“Estate donations increased to $71 million, which was a 59 percent increase,” said Jane Carroll, public relations manager for the Office of Development.

Carroll said there are two theories as to what might have caused the growth in estate donations.

“One, the team just did a fantastic job trying to find the right fit for” the donors, Carroll said, referring to members of the Planned Giving Department, who work with attorneys and estate planners to make arrangements for those who want to donate to the university.

“Two, with the economy, people maybe didn’t have the cash to give, but they still wanted to do something to help.”

Outright gifts to OSU fell, but not by much compared with gifts other universities received, Carroll said.

“Outright gifts and pledges went down 11 percent from the previous year,” Carroll said. “Fundraising was very difficult in the past year, so even 11 percent down was still pretty impressive with the economic circumstances.”

Although the total number of donors to the university increased by more than 20,000 in fiscal year 2010, the total donations OSU received still fell shy of the university’s goal amount.

The total was 4 percent short of OSU’s annual goal, but Carroll said in an e-mail that she is satisfied with the past year’s total donations.

Although the university received less in readily available gifts, it has a flow of money coming from estate donations made in the past.

“The $71 million in commitment is still, in a sense, not realized until those donors have passed away,” Carroll said. “That money is not directly accessible, but what we realize today may be estate plans that were made 30 years ago or 40 years ago. And it can happen that people don’t notify Ohio State that it’s in their will, so there will be surprises — anything from property to cash to stock. Every day, pretty much, you can guarantee something will be realized that was set up in the past.”

After the economic downturn, OSU had to determine how best to allocate the donations it received.

“When the economy kind of tanked, Dr. (E. Gordon) Gee looked at what was the biggest priority, and that was scholarship support,” Carroll said. “There’s a really strong drive for scholarships through the Students First initiative.”

The Students First initiative is a project Gee introduced in December 2008 to insure that all students continue to have access to an education at OSU, given that many families struggled financially in the recessive economy.

One generous couple agreed that students should be given a financial boost to continue their work at OSU. Pat Robinson, a member of the OSU Foundation Board of Directors, and her husband, Thom Robinson, of Troy, Ohio, have been paying athletic scholarships for OSU students for years.

“It probably started with our becoming involved with the football program,” Pat said. “One thing led to another, and we liked the idea of those scholarships.”

The Robinsons have also made substantial contributions to other parts of OSU’s campus.

“Besides the scholarships, our first big gift was a $5 million gift to the renovation of the Thompson Library,” Pat said.

Although the Robinsons did not attend OSU, they became connected to it and passionate about the opportunities it provides to its students, Pat said.

“We were invited to some football games, and the more we went, the more enthused we became with the idea of the university,” she said. “We just fell in love with the place and realized all the opportunities students had there.”

“Our interest has always been in the young people. They are what this future is all about, I believe, and they have never disappointed us yet.”