@FStratford - I meant chicago is trying to do more with less now than its peers, compared to 20 years ago. The gap has widened.
@JBStillFlying - why do you think alumnae or other giving will really kick in, anytime soon? Chicago is about to close a major capital campaign. Traditionally, giving falls off for a few years after that.
Per what you imply, I agree that Chicago should not wait for a long period between major giving campaigns. One of Penn’s greatest successes was, just a few years after ending a major campaign (that raised around $4.5B), they started another campaign for another $4.5B.
I don’t know if Chicago has the fundraising capacity to do that.
An interesting point, Chicago used to have the #3 endowment in the country, behind only harvard and yale:
https://magazine.uchicago.edu/9904/html/curriculum.htm
So in the past 60 years, we’ve gone from #3 to #15. Harvard and Yale have stayed at the top. Why did our fundraising languish? Yes we had a very small college, but we were always a comprehensive research U. The endowments for all our other schools (save for maybe Booth) have fallen off the pace too - e.g. giving to the medical plant, grad schools, etc.