With a new year just around the corner, overall giving for the most recent fiscal year appears as if it will be flat. But behind the fundraising numbers at many colleges and universities is a shift in giving that could make the job of fundraiser even more difficult in the future, the New York Times reports.

Although comprehensive data for the fiscal year ended June 30 are not yet available, a handful of large institutions such as Harvard, Yale, and the University of Chicago have reported little to no growth in their year-over-year giving totals. And while the reasons for donors' caution varies, William P. McGoldrick, a partner at Washburn & McGoldrick, which advises higher education institutions on how to raise money, thinks he knows why. "Donors, especially major donors, ask tougher questions about institutions than they did when they trusted leadership throughout society," McGoldrick told the Times.

Moreover, as the gap between the mega-rich and others has widened, fundraisers are under increasing pressure to court those with the deepest pockets. For instance, at Yale, which has raised $3.2 billion toward a $3.5 billion capital campaign goal, less than 1 percent of the donors to the campaign have contributed 75 percent of the total amount. No surprise, then, that universities increasingly are looking to develop outreach programs to donors with the financial wherewithal to make gifts of at least $1 million — and that donors in that position increasingly are looking to make such gifts anonymously.

"The greatest impact of the recession, aside from the impact on people's net worth, is that it has created great uncertainty," said John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support to Education. "In that atmosphere, people are reluctant to make long-term commitments."