A 13 percent decline in private donations to the University of California, Davis, during the past fiscal year was tempered by an 11 percent increase in corporate gifts, according to a recently completed campus report on fund raising. Gifts to the campus totaled $28,988,569 during the fiscal year that ended June 30, compared to $33,191,691 in gifts the previous year. Much of the decline is attributable to a lack of million-dollar gifts during the past year. In 1991-92, the campus received three gifts of $1 million or more each, but this past year it received none of that size. Even so, campus officials say they are encouraged by several components of the report, including a significant number of gifts of over $100,000 each and the 11 percent increase in giving from corporations. Gifts totaling $14.5 million, representing half of the donations to the Davis campus last year, were made by corporations. "The present economic climate has made the university increasingly reliant on private support," said UC Davis Chancellor Theodore L. Hullar. "I am encouraged that the generosity and conviction of donors in the importance of the university's mission will help convey the Davis campus through this era of austerity." At the same time that corporate donations rose, gifts from alumni increased by 20 percent, totaling $478,013. And donations through bequests diminished by nearly half; the campus received $1.7 million in bequests in 1991-92, compared to $3.3 million during the previous year. The School of Veterinary Medicine continues to be the major beneficiary of bequests, this year receiving seven bequests totaling over $800,000. "It's important to cast this year's giving totals in proper perspective," said Virginia Kelsch, associate vice chancellor for university relations. "Last year -- when $33.2 million was raised -- was the campus's best fund-raising year ever." That year saw three mega-gifts of over $1 million each directed to the campus -- $1 million from Walter and Carol Buehler for the Alumni and Visitors Center, $2.5 million from the San Francisco Foundation for the School of Veterinary Medicine, and $1.2 million from the Russell Ranch life estate. The four largest gifts received by the campus this year were $761,000 from the John F. Steindler Trust for research, $620,000 from the Nestlé Foundation for the Department of Pediatrics, $500,000 from the Oak Tree Racing Association for equine research and $500,000 from the Philip Reed Foundation for history fellowships. This past year, the campus received a total of 5,500 individual corporate gifts, an increase of 400 from the previous year. The College of Engineering in particular benefits from strong industry support. During the past year, corporations provided 82 percent of the college's $3.2 million in private support, including major gifts from Rockwell, TRW and Hewlett Packard. The college, which completed the $10 million initial phase of its Silver Anniversary Campaign in 1989, is currently embarking on the second phase of the program, with a fund-raising goal of $15 million. Two fund-raising programs -- the Alumni and Visitors Center Campaign and the Annual Fund -- spurred the 20 percent increase in alumni giving. More than 3,000 alumni and friends contributed to the successful $3.8 million campaign to build the Walter A. Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center, which opened this past April. And more than 8,000 alumni and 3,600 parents of current students made commitments to the 1991-92 Annual Fund, which reached an all-time high of $1.7 million in pledges. Both the Alumni and Visitors Center Campaign and Annual Fund program are conducted by the UC Davis Foundation (formerly known as the Cal Aggie Foundation). This past year gifts to the foundation increased by 20 percent, from $3.6 million to $4.1 million. During 1991-92, the foundation also celebrated the successful completion of the fund-raising drive to endow at the $650,000 level the UC Davis Prize for Teaching and Scholarly Achievement, established through contributions from the UC Davis Chancellor's Club Fellows. "The teaching prize, which was initiated with a single $25,000 gift from an alumnus in 1985, has reached fruition," said James Willett, chair of the foundation's board of trustees, an organization of volunteers. "Endowment of the prize ensures that it will exist in perpetuity to recognize and reward outstanding teaching at the undergraduate level." Several other special campaigns were under way in 1991-92. The School of Medicine Alumni Association embarked on a $500,000 campaign to endow a faculty chair in bioethics; the School of Law completed its campaign to fund the Edward L. Barrett Jr. Professorship; the College of Agricultural and Environmental Science's Charles M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center fund-raising effort neared the $1 million mark; and the School of Veterinary Medicine completed its drive to raise $220,000 for a Michael R. Floyd Veterinary Dental Operatory Suite in the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.