nbhoya
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Endowment
May 5, 2019 14:43:55 GMT -5
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Post by nbhoya on May 5, 2019 14:43:55 GMT -5
Has anyone heard of any steps being taken to increase the endowment? It’s my view that we need to triple or quadruple it in short time to advance our interests effectively.
Any new capital campaign aimed to this end?
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on May 5, 2019 15:22:29 GMT -5
Has anyone heard of any steps being taken to increase the endowment? It’s my view that we need to triple or quadruple it in short time to advance our interests effectively. These issues are always under discussion. It begs the question, however, that to elevate it in short order, you need benefactors with that kind of capacity to do so, likely outside the Georgetown alumni orbit. The kind of careers that most Georgetown alumni are in does not provide that kind of fortune.
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2ndRyan
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Post by 2ndRyan on May 7, 2019 13:55:26 GMT -5
In the ranking of endowments which I saw (google 100 Richest Schools) we are number 60, immediately behind GW. Notre Dame has an endowment of over $9 billion. Boston College is also ahead of us. Other schools ahead of us include Swarthmore, Smith, and Grinnell.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on May 7, 2019 14:25:54 GMT -5
In the ranking of endowments which I saw (google 100 Richest Schools) we are number 60, immediately behind GW. Notre Dame has an endowment of over $9 billion. Boston College is also ahead of us. Other schools ahead of us include Swarthmore, Smith, and Grinnell. That's not likely to change due to the time value of money. In the 1970's, for example, Georgetown's endowment was approx. $40 million while Harvard stood at over $1 billion. Since then, Georgetown's endowment has grown by roughly 40x and so has Harvard (and lots of others).
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C86
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Post by C86 on May 7, 2019 15:14:46 GMT -5
Grinnell's huge endowment is due in large part to the long-ago purchase of Intel stock (an alumnus was a founder) and investment advice from Warren Buffet. Georgetown has not had that type of luck.
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Endowment
May 7, 2019 21:28:17 GMT -5
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Post by TrueHoyaBlue on May 7, 2019 21:28:17 GMT -5
FWIW, Georgetown has made some progress over the years. GU was ranked 71st in 2009 on the NACUBO ranking of endowments, and has since risen 11 spots.
Tough to make up ground when everyone else is trying to do the same thing. But hopefully there are some more major (or mega) gift in the pipeline.
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2ndRyan
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Post by 2ndRyan on May 8, 2019 9:00:12 GMT -5
would be interesting to know why we got started building the endowment so late
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on May 8, 2019 9:12:11 GMT -5
would be interesting to know why we got started building the endowment so late I’ll take “Jesuits are great educators and lousy businessmen for $1000 Alex”
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on May 8, 2019 9:48:33 GMT -5
would be interesting to know why we got started building the endowment so late In no particular order or blame: 1. No prior vision for fundraising. The first annual fund solicitation was not until 1954, and it was run entirely by alumni, not the University, because GU had no dedicated staff. The first true capital campaign arrived in the mid-1960's and a chief investment officer wasn't brought on until much, much later. Compared to annual giving, endowment management is a whole other effort. 2. Lack of priorities. Building projects were infrequent and tuition was relatively inexpensive for the day ($1000-2000/yr.) The lower cost of faculty (Jesuits didn't make market wages) did not drive the need to invest. 3. Institutional leadership. Until 1966, the University board of directors was comprised solely of Jesuits and none were particularly schooled in investments or finance. When there were deficits, the answer was to raise tuition, not fundraise. 4. Vision. Until the 1960's, Georgetown was a parochial university in that sense of the word. It was more the Jesuit college of Washington DC than a national university, and was comparable (if not behind) that of Fordham and Holy Cross, which didn't do a lot of fundraising either, whereas Notre Dame under Rev. Hesburgh was all-in on fundraising by this time. It didn't hurt that Hesburgh had a football team bringing happy alumni back to South Bend every Saturday in the fall to wake up the echoes and get a few elbows twisted for a new dorm or a faculty chair. But unless you were local, Georgetown alumni didn't see or hear much about the place after graduation. With football dropped and basketball without even any regional interest, Georgetown sports didn't provide added interest in the awareness of the school. 5. They didn't ask. Bob Hope's only son attended Georgetown in the early 1960's but the story goes that the Jesuits didn't feel comfortable asking him for a major gift. Here in Dallas, SMU used to fly him in to appear at Homecoming and alumni events for years and he loved it. In 1964, he wrote a check to build the Bob Hope Theater on campus. When asked why, he said, "because they were the first to ask." www.smudailycampus.com/news/smu-mourns-loss-of-friend-supporter
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2ndRyan
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Post by 2ndRyan on May 8, 2019 11:32:20 GMT -5
Thank you, Elvado and DFW.
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Bigs"R"Us
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Endowment
May 8, 2019 13:45:57 GMT -5
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on May 8, 2019 13:45:57 GMT -5
If you get an individual or entity to write a super fat check, you can leapfrog folks. Unlikely, but not impossible.
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nbhoya
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Post by nbhoya on May 8, 2019 15:43:59 GMT -5
We've gotten donations in the tens and even hundreds of millions recently, but they always seem to be earmarked for the establishment of a program or the building of a building.
Need some large donations earmarked specifically for the endowment, although the lack of a splashy name on a wall would make that less than likely.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on May 8, 2019 18:36:07 GMT -5
We've gotten donations in the tens and even hundreds of millions recently, but they always seem to be earmarked for the establishment of a program or the building of a building. Need some large donations earmarked specifically for the endowment, although the lack of a splashy name on a wall would make that less than likely. It is possible to do both, of course - here it is important to distinguish endowment as a concept (you have a set amount of principal that you invest and use the interest for current use expenses) from the General Endowment as a pot of money that has no restrictions on its use by the University. When endowment figures are reported, they include both unrestricted and restricted endowed funds. A couple of instructive examples: - Marshall Family Endowed Scholarship: "With his commitment of $1.2M, Marshall and his family will support Georgetown Football's Summer School program for first generation student-athletes through the establishment of the Marshall Family Endowed Scholarship and the Marshall Family Current Use Scholarship funds. These endowments are the first of their kind for this program... In making this gift, Marshall is using a combination of traditional giving and an estate gift, through the designation of an IRA, to support not only the current needs of the program, but to establish the very first endowment in support of Georgetown Football's Summer School program."
- Tom (C'69) and Barbara Napolitano Commit $1 Million to Endow Men's Basketball Scholarship: "Sept. 16, 2008 Washington, D.C. - Tom (C'69) and Barbara Napolitano are fans of Georgetown Men's Basketball that truly bleed the Blue & Gray. Like most fans, they show their enthusiasm for the Hoyas by attending games, both home and away, and cheering on the team to victory. Now, they have taken their commitment to Georgetown a step further, creating for the University its first-ever fully endowed scholarship for the Men's Basketball program. "We have always wanted to find a way to do something to strengthen the University's endowment," Tom said. "I recognized the importance of the endowment from my days as a student in the late 1960s. Endowing a basketball scholarship allows us to express our enthusiasm for Georgetown basketball, while addressing the long-term needs of the University."
- Athletics Scholarships (from the Generations capital campaign): "Georgetown Athletics has set an ambitious $20 million goal to endow scholarships through the Generations campaign. Securing the endowment of a greater percentage of our Athletics scholarships is crucial to the long-term success of Georgetown Athletics.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO ENDOW AN ATHLETICS SCHOLARSHIP?
A gift of $1 million names and endows the equivalent of a full scholarship in perpetuity.
A gift of at least $100,000 names and endows a partial scholarship in perpetuity.
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