Despite a financial crisis that caused philanthropy to plummet nationwide, the University raised 80 percent, or $3.83 billion, of its “Cornell Now” fundraising campaign goal as of Feb. 3, putting it ahead of track to reach its target of $4.75 billion by 2015.

Former Enron director Robert Belfer was revealed on Wednesday to be the anonymous benefactor behind a $100 million donation to help finance a state-of-the-art research building at Weill Cornell Medical College.  

Peter Nolan ’80 and his wife Stephanie Nolan ’84 donated an undisclosed amount to endow the directorship of the Charles Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in September.

In contrast to last year’s fundraising record, private donations to the University declined by more than 31 percent, totaling approximately $308.2 million. 

Nancy Cameros, wife of Alan Cameros '57, donated her collection of 300 cookbooks to the University.

In recent weeks, the University has bolstered its reputation as an institution committed to a sustainable future.

The gift is the largest individual donation to a university for sustainability research.

According to an article from the Washington Post and The Chronicle of Higher Education, administrators at Cornell and Dartmouth are handing out the names of seniors who haven't contributed to their senior class campaign.  At Dartmouth, only one of the class of 1,123 didn't contribute to the fund, and faced ridicule for it in the campus paper and several blogs.

Steven Zhang '12 argues that money is not college students' most valuable charitable resources — idealism, passion and ideas are.

The Cornell Annual Fund's record-breaking fundraising efforts should be applauded, but the University still faces a daunting road back to the financial clout it had before Fall 2008.