After two years without growth, charitable contributions to U.S. colleges and universities rose 3.4 percent last year to a record $24.4 billion, according to a report released Wednesday.

The increase was driven by a 9.7 percent increase in giving from individual donors, including a 21.5 percent surge in giving by non-alumni individuals. That offset a 6.1 percent decline in giving by foundations.

Among alumni, total giving rose slightly, but the percentage of alumni donating fell, as it has every year since 2001.

Harvard University led the list by raising $540 million, according to the latest annual survey by the Council for Aid to Education, a unit of the RAND Corporation. UCLA, 10th overall, raised the most of any public university – $262 million.

The University of Maine raised the most of all the public and private colleges and universities surveyed in Maine, registering a huge jump in giving, from about $13.3 million in 2003 to more than $29.4 million in 2004.

“Private giving to the university is on the rise and last year was a record-breaking year,” said University of Maine spokesman Joe Carr. He attributed the increase “to the generosity of university supporters” and to an improvement in data reporting.

Overall, alumni donations nationwide last year accounted for 28 percent of university giving, nonalumni individuals 21 percent, corporations 18 percent and foundations 25 percent.

Foundations generally ramp up giving more slowly than individuals when the economy recovers, as it has in the last two years.

The remaining 8 percent was contributed by religious and other organizations.

Although the increase in overall contributions barely outpaced inflation, survey director Ann Kaplan of CAE called the results “not too bad,” considering the decline in foundation grants, which she expects to turn around.

The overall increase followed zero growth in 2003, and a decline in 2002 – the first since 1988.

Kaplan credited a stronger economy and more effective fund-raising.

“Fund-raising behavior has a strong effect,” she said. “The number one reason people make gifts is being asked. Without that, the economy’s not going to have much of an effect on giving.”

Perhaps the best news for colleges and universities was the 21.5 percent increase in gifts from non-alumni donors – often parents of alumni, community members or donors who want to back specific research. The increase suggests schools are succeeding in expanding their donor pools.

But while total alumni giving rose 2 percent to $6.7 billion, the percentage of alumni donating fell to 12.8 percent, which has steadily dropped since it was 13.8 percent in 2001.

Kaplan said that may be because colleges are keeping better records and now simply have more alumni to target who figure into the calculation.

But she said they may also be focused on securing larger donations from major donors rather than on getting a broad base of alumni in the habit of giving, even small amounts. If that’s the case, the strategy could negatively affect future fund raising.

“Alumni who make small gifts tend to be the people who end up making large gifts,” she said.

The Voluntary Support of Education Survey was based on replies from 971 institutions, a group that accounts for about 85 percent of voluntary support raised by colleges and universities.