WKU Endowment Bucks
National Trend, Ranks 17th In Growth
January 04, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - For the second consecutive year, Western Kentucky University has ranked 17th in a national survey of endowment growth.
WKU's endowment grew from $41.75 million in 2000-01 to $48.5 million in 2001-02, an increase of 16.3 percent, according to the survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. The average of the 654 institutions participating in the survey was a decline of 6 percent.
Tom Hiles, Western's vice president for Institutional Advancement, said WKU's endowment grew because of the success of its capital campaign.
"One of our goals in the "Investing in the Spirit" campaign was to increase our endowment to $50 million by the end of the campaign on June 30, 2003," Hiles said. "The success of our fund-raising has more than offset the losses we experienced in the stock market. This endowment increase is directly linked to an increase in annual cash deposits from $3 million at the beginning of the campaign in 1998 to more than $12 million last year. We are grateful to our alumni and friends for their support."
The campaign, which ends June 30, has raised more than $86 million toward a $90 million goal.
WKU President Gary Ransdell said endowments are essential to the success of a university.
"Endowments create a permanent source of funding for faculty positions, scholarships and programs," he said. "Our spending policy makes a portion of the investment income from endowments available while re-investing the rest. That ensures that our endowment will support the people, programs and places articulated as our campaign goals. As an example, we had no endowed professorships at the beginning of the campaign and now we have 22. We also have greatly increased our scholarship support by nearly $25 million through this campaign."
Much of Western's endowment is managed by the Western Kentucky University Foundation. Chair Jerry Baker of Bowling Green said the conservative spending policy and careful investment help preserve the value of the endowment.
"The WKU Foundation's goal is to be a good steward of the University's endowment funds," Baker said. "We use a professional adviser whose mission is to allocate our funds so as to maintain a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. The market leadership changes with time and the adviser will reallocate the funds in an effort to stay ahead of the curve."
The College Heights Foundation also manages part of Western's endowment, much of it dedicated to scholarships. CHF President Alex Downing said the growth is a "demonstration of the generosity and support of donors to the College Heights Foundation and Western. Our success can be attributed to their devotion to Western and their belief in the goals of the "Investing in the Spirit" campaign."
Western was the only Kentucky university of the 12 that participated in the survey to show growth in its endowment.
The top 17 in percentage of endowment growth were:
Westmont College, California, 82.6 percent
Meharry Medical College, Tennessee, 48 percent
Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, 45.8 percent
Antioch University, Ohio, 45.4 percent
The University of Tennessee System, 39.9 percent
Bank Street College of Education, New York, 39.1 percent
Lebanese American University, New York, 31.1 percent
California State University at San Marcos Foundation, 29.1 percent
University of Albany Foundation, New York, 21.7 percent
Texas Lutheran University, 21.3 percent
University of Washington, 19.8 percent
California Polytechnic State University Foundation, 19.1 percent
Tufts University, Maryland, 18.7 percent
Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina, 18.3 percent
Wells College, New York, 18.0 percent
Michigan State University, 16.7 percent
Western Kentucky University, 16.3 percent.
For more information, contact Tom Hiles at (270) 745-6208. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
