Stanford raised $911.2 million from 72,118 private donors in 2006, according to figures released by the University on Wednesday.

That’s more money than has ever been raised by a single university in a single year. It is $307.6 million more than the year before. And it is more than 50 percent greater than Harvard’s second place take of $595 million.

The record level of giving from a record number of givers — 40 percent of alumni — was part of an across-the-board strong year for university fundraising. All schools together raised $28 billion, a 9.4% increase from last year.

“Stanford and Harvard are typically one and two,” said Howard Pearson ‘76, a senior official at the University’s Office of Development. “Harvard is generally more number one, but Stanford has got very attractive gift objectives where donors can make an impact in some cutting edge areas, and that’s what it takes for donors to make significant gifts. So we’ve got some exciting opportunities, we have very generous alumni and friends, and putting all of that together with the campaign means we are able to attract some very large gifts.”

2006 marked the end of the five-year Campaign for Undergraduate Education and the beginning of the Stanford Challenge, which Martin Shell, vice president for development, said had a positive impact on this year’s unusually high level of contributions.

“Typically there are spikes in giving at the beginning and end of campaigns,” he said in a statement released Wednesday.

The Stanford Challenge includes initiatives in sustainability, K-12 education, health, international peace and security, graduate and undergraduate education and arts and creativity curriculum.

Stanford received several high-profile donations, including over $100 million from John Arrillaga ‘60 to assist with the building of the Stanford Stadium. The University received $80 million from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, a part of the $400 million gift announced in 2001 for the School of Humanities and The Campaign for Undergraduate Education. Venture capitalist Arthur Rock and his wife Tony Rembe Rock also donated $10 million for the development of a center for corporate governance at Stanford.

“Humanity is facing challenges of enormous complexity, and our university is uniquely positioned to address them,” said President John Hennessy in a statement. “We appreciate our supporters’ confidence in Stanford’s ability to leverage our research and expertise to respond to these critical issues as well as the role we intend to play in educating the next generation of global leaders.”

Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ‘82 said that these gifts are important because of the current strain on the federal budget.

“As one of the leading research universities in the world,” he said in Wednesday’s statement. “Stanford is seeking to expand its research efforts, leveraging federal research dollars in a way that creates benefits for the public and serves as an engine for the economy.”

Etchemendy also noted that Stanford’s increase in private contributions will assist the expansion of financial aid. The University announced a $10 million increase in the financial aid budget this week.

Will the boom times for fundraising continue?

“Our expectations for this year are, we’ll say, optimistic,” said Pearson. “Whether we would repeat last year is certainly hard to duplicate, but we are at the beginning of a campaign, which is a good time to be.”