The Council for Aid to Education (CAE), in an annual survey of colleges and universities, has ranked Cornell University seventh nationally for gifts in 2012-13, when the university received $475 million for that fiscal year.

The CAE survey of 950 colleges and universities also noted that the number of alumni giving nationwide has declined 1.7 percent from 2012 to 2013. Defying that trend, the number of Cornell alumni donors rose by 8.4 percent. In total, more than 51,000 alumni, parents and friends gave to Cornell in fiscal 2012-13. By the start of fiscal 2014, more than 40,000 Cornell donors had membership in the 1865 Society, which recognizes those who have given for at least two consecutive years.

“I am grateful for this groundswell of support,” says Charles Phlegar, vice president for alumni affairs and development. “The increased loyalty and momentum signal that more and more people believe not only in Cornell’s mission, but in its ability to carry out that mission and make a positive impact on our students and on our local and global communities.”

Student aid and faculty hiring were among the top strategic fundraising priorities in fiscal 2013. Undergraduate scholarships received $28 million last year – including gifts that completed the Scholarship Match Challenge – helping Cornell to ease students’ debt burden.

More than 60 percent of Cornell undergraduates receive financial aid. Students from families that make less than $60,000 have no loan obligation in their financial aid packages. Cornell is set to spend nearly $245 million for undergraduate financial aid in fiscal 2014.

In fiscal 2013, gifts funded faculty renewal and endowed faculty positions, aiding in recruitment efforts that yielded 76 new tenure-track and tenured professors in academic year 2012-13 for the Ithaca campus.