In a year of critical headlines for the University, annual gifts to Harvard swelled to $590 million in fiscal year 2005, marking the second-highest annual total, University fundraisers announced yesterday.

The total represents a 6 percent inflation-adjusted rise from the previous year. The only other year in which Harvard has raised more funds in nominal or inflation-adjusted was 2001.

Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development Donella M. Rapier, clearly pleased by the results in an interview yesterday, attributed the rise to donor support for University-wide priorities like the sciences, and buoyed by several sizable gifts. The strong showing comes as the University is in the midst of the quiet phase of a multibillion-dollar capital campaign.

An increased proportion of the approximately 82,000 donors who contributed to Harvard last year are not alumni of the University, Rapier said, adding that non-alumni are coming into increasing focus at her office.

Some of these non-alumni contributions were among the largest.

For example, David M. Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group, a leading private equity firm, contributed $10 million to the Kennedy School of Government last fiscal year. Rubenstein is a parent of an undergraduate and is married to a graduate of Harvard Business School (HBS), but is not an alum, Rapier said.

And the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation is funding a fellowship program in social entrepreneurship supported by a $10 million gift; Reynolds is not an alumna.

Rapier attributed some of the non-alumni support to programs unique to Harvard, like the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Contributions from the final year of the HBS fundraising drive also helped bolster the University’s total.

The strong gains have come amid the controversy stemming from University President Lawrence H. Summers’ January remarks on women in science and the resulting faculty no-confidence vote. Asked whether she sees the strong returns as a sign of alumni support for Summers, Rapier said donors are “devoted” and contribute “for a whole number of reasons.”

Returns for fiscal year 2005 were exceeded only by those of 2001, in which Harvard raised $714 million, adjusting for inflation. Rapier attributed that year’s total to several unusually large gifts, including a $50 million gift from the Ford Foundation and four other gifts which met or exceeded $25 million.

Harvard raised more funds than any other university in fiscal year 2004, but this year’s top spot will be a close race between Harvard and Stanford.

“Every four, five, six years, Stanford has a year that gets ahead of us,” Rapier said. “I understand that they had a very good year.”

Stanford spokesman Allen Acosta declined to comment on his university’s fundraising results, as Stanford’s fiscal year ends on August 31 rather than June 30, when Harvard’s ends. Stanford plans to announce its results in early to mid-October, he said.

Regardless, Rapier said she expects Harvard to take the first or second spot in this year’s rankings.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL

The strong results come in the run-up to Harvard’s multibillion-dollar capital campaign, as the University meets with donors to solicit gifts and discuss its priorities.

Rapier called last year’s fundraising figures “a very strong vote of support in what we’re doing.”

Harvard is also considering pushing back the public rollout of the capital campaign so that the University’s expansion into Allston can figure more prominently into its fundraising efforts. Please see related story, page 1.

—Staff writer Nicholas M. Ciarelli can be reached at ciarelli@fas.harvard.edu.