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News from Rose Community Foundation
January 28, 2003
News Media Contact: Phil Nash 303.398.7444
Jewish Organizations Raise $19 Million for Endowments
Denver, CO - Today, 19 Denver-area Jewish organizations are stronger by $19 million. The 19 institutions raised amounts ranging from $78,300 to $4.2 million through The Endowment Challenge, a three-year philanthropic initiative spearheaded by Rose Community Foundation in partnership with the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado. The 19 organizations now all have organizational endowments, housed at Rose Community Foundation, which will provide revenue for the organizations in perpetuity.
“This means that almost 19 million new philanthropic dollars are going to work for the Jewish community,” said Steven W. Farber, Chair of Rose Community Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “We heartily congratulate the grantees for this spectacular success.”
The Endowment Challenge was launched in 1999 when Rose Community Foundation’s Trustees granted $10 million to the program. The Allied Jewish Federation became a partner in the initiative, committing both staff and $625,000 for the program. “The Federation is pleased to have participated as a partner with Rose Community Foundation in The Endowment Challenge,” said Doug Seserman, Federation President & CEO. “We are happy that the grantees have reached their goals and helped secure their futures.”
In the fall of 1999, all Jewish organizations and synagogues throughout metropolitan Denver and Boulder were invited to submit proposals to take part in The Endowment Challenge. The 19 grantees who participated represent a wide diversity of Jewish organizations including the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center, the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver, Yeshiva Toras Chaim, the American Jewish Committee, the Boulder Jewish Community Foundation, four congregations and many others. (See table for complete list.)
Eighteen of the organizations met or exceeded their endowment fundraising goals qualifying each of them for challenge grants totaling approximately 56 cents on the dollar. Altogether the 19 organizations raised more than $12.3 million to fund their endowments. Rose Community Foundation provided over $6 million in challenge grants, and the Allied Jewish Federation provided nearly $575,000 making the grand total almost $19 million for all 19 organizations. In addition, since 1999 Rose Community Foundation has provided $2.9 million in annual operating grants, $2 million to restore losses to endowment fund balances and more than $600,000 in technical assistance to The Endowment Challenge grantees. All told, The Endowment Challenge represents an investment of $24.5 million in Jewish institutions by donors, Rose Community Foundation and the Allied Jewish Federation.
“We could not be more thrilled with the accomplishment of The Endowment Challenge grantees,” said Sheila Bugdanowitz, President and CEO of Rose Community Foundation. “Beyond the actual sums of money raised, this initiative has shown an overwhelming commitment by hundreds of organizational leaders, staff and donors to make sure that our Jewish institutions can remain strong long into the future.”
A key feature of The Endowment Challenge was the technical assistance program that provided the staff and volunteer leaders of the grantees with a range of learning opportunities, from general fundraising training to expert consultation with grantees on their specific needs.
“It’s obvious that the financial assistance is important, but the technical assistance has also been very helpful in enabling us to better pursue a foundation for preserving our organization’s financial future,” said Marilyn Bogan, Director of Donor and Corporate Services at Shalom Park, a long-term care facility that participated in the initiative.
“We created The Endowment Challenge because so few organizations had endowments and with the enormous transfer of wealth taking place, we wanted to help Jewish institutions capture new philanthropic dollars for future generations,” said Lisa Farber Miller, Senior Program Officer at Rose Community Foundation. “An endowment is a powerful tool to provide an organization with long-term financial stability, and until now, our local Jewish community has not had a tradition of endowment philanthropy.”
Challenges Within the Challenge
Conceived and implemented at the pinnacle of the late 1990s economic bubble,
The Endowment Challenge was the right idea – asking donors to share
some of their current good fortune to endow charitable organizations for
future stability. But within the first year of its launch, the economy
began a long-term decline. “The goal of raising nearly $13 million
in the Jewish community was ambitious even in the best of times,”
said Margie Gart, head of Donor and Endowment Services at Rose Community
Foundation and manager of The Endowment Challenge. “What is truly
amazing is that 95 percent of grantees reached their endowment goals while
raising funds in a much more difficult economic environment.”
There were other economic challenges as well. Like most investors in the securities markets, Rose Community Foundation has experienced a decline in the value of its assets during the last three years. Because endowment funds are commingled with the Foundation’s assets, Endowment Challenge grantees that made early deposits in their endowment accounts at the Foundation saw an erosion of their fund balances. Under the original terms of The Endowment Challenge, this economic reality would prevent the grantees from receiving any distribution from their endowments until the losses to their fund balances rose above the original value of donors’ gifts.
In the fall of 2002, Rose Community Foundation authorized several fundamental changes to the structure of The Endowment Challenge to address these issues. First, it authorized additional one-time grants totaling nearly $2 million to the participating organizations to fully restore their fund balances. This decision brought the endowments back to the level of the grantees’ original deposits as of December 31, 2002. Second, it offered Endowment Challenge grantees a wider range of investment options for their funds, allowing them to annually choose an investment profile that matches the needs and interests of the organization. Third, it allows grantees to receive endowment income of up to 5 percent annually when their endowments have net investment income.
“An endowment requires a great deal of financial discipline, because the primary goal is always to preserve and grow the principal, and the secondary goal is to enjoy a reasonable amount of income,” said Gart. “The changes we made in the structure maintain a strong endowment discipline while allowing the grantees more options, more control and fewer restrictions on income. As the grant initiative ends and the funds become a permanent part of Rose Community Foundation, these changes ensure that all the funds start out strong and whole.”
Celebration Planned
The Endowment Challenge grantees and their donors will celebrate the completion of The Endowment Challenge on Thursday evening, January 30, at Congregation Emanuel. “This is a victory party for everyone who worked or gave to make this very big idea into a very big reality,” said Gart. “In one sense, The Endowment Challenge is over because the funds have come in, the challenge grants awarded and all 19 organizations have permanent endowment funds. But in another sense, this is just the beginning. We hope that the endowment funds will provide future revenue for their respective organizations and, over time, will grow through new endowment gifts and appreciation in value.”
SIDEBAR 1
The Endowment Challenge at a Glance
GOALS
-
Stimulate endowment giving
-
Develop institutional skills in endowment fundraising
-
Build public awareness about the power of endowment
THE THREE-YEAR PROGRAM
-
A partnership of Rose Community Foundation and the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado
-
$2.9 million in operating grants to all grantees during the three-year initiative (simulation of endowment income)
-
$500,000 for technical assistance and training over three years
-
$123,000 evaluation
-
Challenge grants of 56 cents on the dollar for meeting endowment goal, totaling $6.6 million
-
$2 million granted upon completion to restore market losses to endowment funds
THE RESULTS
-
19 new endowment funds
-
$19 million in new philanthropic dollars working for the Jewish community
-
Increased awareness of endowments and enhanced fundraising skills
SIDEBAR 2
The Endowment Challenge
Spreadsheet: How Grantees Built Their Endowments
| Agency | Goal | Total Contributions December 2002 | RCF Grant | AJF Grant | Total Endowment Principal |
| American Jewish Committee | $
50,000 |
$
50,083 |
$
25,700 |
$
2,438 |
$
78,221 |
| Allied Jewish Senior Housing | 50,000 |
50,000 |
25,700 |
2,438 |
78,138 |
| Hillel Council of Colorado | 50,000 |
76,900 |
25,700 |
2,438 |
105,038 |
| Congregation Beth Evergreen | 100,000 |
100,000 |
51,400 |
4,876 |
156,276 |
| Temple Sinai | 100,000 |
100,000 |
51,400 |
4,876 |
156,276 |
| Yeshiva Toras Chaim | 100,000 |
100,049 |
51,400 |
4,876 |
156,325 |
| Jewish Family Service | 200,000 |
200,000 |
102,800 |
9,752 |
312,552 |
| B'nai Havurah | 300,000 |
310,099 |
154,200 |
14,628 |
478,927 |
| Colorado Agency for Jewish Education | 300,000 |
306,442 |
154,200 |
14,628 |
475,270 |
| Center for Judaic Studies, U. of Denver | 300,000 |
300,000 |
154,200 |
14,628 |
468,828 |
| Denver Academy of Torah | 500,000 |
504,613 |
257,000 |
24,380 |
785,993 |
| Shalom Park | 500,000 |
506,681 |
257,000 |
24,380 |
788,061 |
| Boulder Jewish Community Foundation | 667,000 |
680,894 |
342,838 |
32,523 |
1,056,255 |
| Anti-Defamation League, Rocky Mt. Region | 800,000 |
801,461 |
411,200 |
39,008 |
1,251,669 |
| BMH-BJ Congregation | 1,000,000 |
100,000 |
- |
- |
100,000 |
| The Denver Campus for Jewish Education | 1,250,000 |
1,250,000 |
642,500 |
60,950 |
1,953,450 |
| Congregation Emanuel | 2,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
1,028,000 |
97,520 |
3,125,520 |
| Mizel Center for Arts and Culture | 2,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
1,028,000 |
97,520 |
3,125,520 |
| Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center | 2,500,000 |
2,881,911 |
1,285,000 |
121,900 |
4,288,811 |
| TOTALS | $12,767,000 |
$12,319,133 |
$6,048,238 |
$573,759 |
$18,941,130 |