The holiday season is the busiest for charitable giving, and even big money donors—who are more likely to give anonymously—make end-of-the year gifts.

“They’re thinking about their taxes too,” said Susan Avila, vice president of advancement for the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Donors have various reasons for requesting anonymity. Many are simply trying to avoid solicitations from other organizations. Sometimes, donors want to hide the gifts from their children or from other charities they routinely support. Whatever their reasons, they’re satisfied to take the tax deduction without fanfare.

The outing of anonymous donors is rare, experts say. Many organizations do, however, urge donors to go public.

Institutions can leverage money better if there’s a name attached to it.

“It adds luster to a project,” said Newman.

Purdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said she wasn’t aware of the incident with the boilermaker statue, in honor of Belk’s father-in-law, inventor Carl C. Grotnes. But she knows what can happen when donors feel their confidence has been betrayed. Years ago, one university supporter asked that the amount of his gift be kept secret. Word, however, leaked out.

“That donor was very upset,” she said. “That donor is no longer with us.”