STORIES

Calendar

Achievements

Briefly Noted

In The News

Credits

Archives

When One Became Two:

Foundations increase effectiveness through specialization

They had been together for more than 50 years. From 1940 to 1997, the nonprofit University Foundation was a marriage between fund-raising and administration. Together, they raised funds for activities for which state funds were insufficient and administered gifts, grants, and contracts.

Then in 1995, an outside consultant brought in to plan for the foundation's future advised that they would be better off apart. He felt their multiple focus lessened their effectiveness, and he recommended that the foundation be split in two: one foundation for fund-raising and philanthropic endeavors and one for administering grants, contracts, and entrepreneurial activities.

In June 1997, the University Foundation's function became solely philanthropic, administering the university gift and endowment program.

The newly formed CSU, Chico Research Foundation was spun off to assume responsibility for grants and contracts administration, along with entrepreneurial activities.

How is the split working out, after five years? Happily ever after, by all accounts.

The CSU, Chico Research Foundation

The Research Foundation, a private nonprofit corporation, receives and administers contracts and grants awarded to the university for hundreds of auxiliary projects on campus, with annual revenues of about $32 million -- many familiar and some, perhaps, quite surprising.

For example, most people are probably familiar with University Public Events, KCHO Northstate Public Radio, PASSAGES Adult Resource Center, and the University Farm, although they may not know they run their services through the Research Foundation.

The Research Foundation owns and manages businesses, like the campus phone service. It is also the arm of the university that helps the faculty secure grants and contracts for their research activities. The scope of research activity is wide-ranging, from artifact identification, digital mapping, Educational Talent Search, ecological preserves, salmon tracking and coding, family health programs, Upward Bound, international studies, and more. In all such externally funded projects, the Research Foundation assists faculty and staff with all stages of the grant process, from proposal writing and submission to financial management during the life of the project.

The university owns a large biological research station on Eagle Lake, which Provost Scott McNall, the Research Foundation chair, called "one of the most beautiful places in Northern California." The Eagle Lake Biological Field Station offers research opportunities in natural science and archaeology. In addition, the Research Foundation contracts with the National Forest Service to run the campgrounds on the shore opposite the field station. The facilities include a convenience store, marina, boat rental, and conference center.

Because the university is landlocked and needs to expand, the Research Foundation is also in the property business. A $25 million investment includes several houses in the College Park area (between Warner Street and Nettleton Stadium). The Research Foundation facilitated the purchase of the office buildings at 35 Main Street and at 25 Main Street, where many of their projects are housed, including Education for the Future, Water Pollution Control, Center for Economic Development, and Resources for International Studies in Education. Property also includes the Outdoor Classroom on Honey Run Road and the Big Chico Creek Ecological Preserve, a 4,000-acre nature preserve.

The Research Foundation gets its income by taking administration fees for its activities. It then gives 60 percent of its net income back to the faculty in a Faculty Incentive Program, which professors use for professional development, travel, and research. The remaining 40 percent is used for the support of the university.

One of the Research Foundation's contracts is with the University Foundation for administering the money raised by the University Foundation. "We wanted to keep it simple and not create duplicate administrative functions," said Paul Moore, vice president for University Advancement and Student Affairs.

The Research Foundation employs 170 regular employees and up to 600 temporary, part-time, and student employees at any one time. In the last fiscal year, over 2,000 different employees' paperwork was processed by the office. Research Foundation employees are not state employees.

In addition to McNall, Moore, and Richard Jackson, board of governors members include Dennis Graham, vice president for Business and Finance; two community members; one student; and one faculty member.

"Our board focuses on the bottom line. We ask, 'Are we running this program on firm financial footing and does it enhance the quality of our academic programs?'" McNall said.

The University Foundation

In striking contrast to the large number of employees of the Research Foundation, the University Foundation has no employees. It relies on its "special focus" board of directors, whose goal is to support the university in fund-raising.

The University Foundation board is composed mostly of community members who are significant contributors themselves or in a position to advise others, such as attorneys or accountants. "They are all people who have a commitment to helping us raise money because they care about the university," Moore said.

Marilyn Warrens, a CSU, Chico alumna, is chair of the Nominations Committee. Warrens is well known as a patron of the arts, and most recently for her contribution in her husband's honor to the renovation of the former President's Mansion, now the Albert E. Warrens Reception Center. "That kind of gift is what you hope for," said Ed Masterson, associate vice president for University Advancement.

Steve Nettleton, Chico Heat owner, is chair of the Finance, Investment, and Audit Committee. His gift of Nettleton Stadium, said Masterson, "provided a building block for our baseball team and a venue for recruiting good athletes. We could never have had a stadium like that if not for Steve and Kathy Nettleton."

Fund-raising, Moore said, is all about relationships. "People don't give you money because you need it, but because they like what you're doing, and you have built a relationship with them."

"We have designed gift plans to match every donor's financial circumstance and area of interest," said Masterson. Popular gift plans include bequests by will or living trust, endowment funds, life insurance, annuities, property, stocks and bonds, retirement accounts, cash, or pledge. "Our program is long term," he said. "I've worked on a lot of gifts that I'll never see."

There is no one type of donor, according to Masterson. Alumni and parents have been very generous, he said, citing an example of a 1927 alumna who left $6,000 in her will. "How many bake sales does it take to do that?" he asked, pointing out the value of major gifts versus events, which he feels do not produce results commensurate with the effort required.

Masterson's office is in the lovely Ella Caroline Sapp Hall on the corner of Third and Normal Streets, a gift of Ella Sapp, a 1916 graduate of Chico Normal School, who left in her will a $1.5 million endowment whose earnings support the Ella C. Sapp Hall Fund and the Ella C. Sapp Scholarship Fund.

However, some of the university's largest gifts have come from nonalumni. One donor gave a large gift in honor of his wife, who worked at the library. Valerie Smith, a major donor, was a former faculty member. Neither of the Nettletons went to CSU, Chico, but both are committed to the future of the university.

Still Good Friends

Like many couples going their separate ways, the two foundations have established a symbiotic relationship, where each can focus on its strengths, help each other, and contribute to the good of the "family." Typically, also, Moore said they are "still sorting out a jillion details as they come up."

Francine Gair