I hope you are all enjoying your summer. Perhaps you are viewing this edition of LeaderNotes from a favorite vacation spot. I probably speak for most of you when I say that I am glad to have warmer (or more accurately, hotter) weather after last winter's snows!

I am happy to report that, despite the economy, our institutions are currently 83% ($1.45 billion) of the way toward our federated goal of $1.7 billion. Donors have continued to be very generous and staff have worked hard to close gifts. Thank you to all who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment toward higher education in these challenging times.

With the beginning of the new fiscal year, there are a number of personnel changes here in Adelphi. Most notably:

Joyce Marx has retired after 20 years of dedicated service to the Foundation, many of which she served as CFO and Vice President for Finance. Joyce's experience and long hours of work were invaluable to the organization. We thank Joyce and wish her only the best in her retirement. In the interim, Pamela Purcell (ppurcell@usmd.edu), Vice President and General Counsel, and Jay Wang (jwang@usmd.edu), Comptroller, are managing our daily business operations and answering questions for our clients and staff. Please feel free to contact them at any time.

David Balcom, USMF Associate Vice President and USM Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement, is serving as a loaned executive for a temporary six-month assignment as Interim Vice President for Advancement at Coppin State University. David has significant experience in both fundraising and board relations, and I am certain that he will be of great assistance to the university while they search for a new vice president.

Marianne Horrigan has been promoted to Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement and Chief of Staff. In her new position, she will continue to oversee the Advancement Office's events program, professional development conferences, and communications, and she will continue to work with the Regents Committee on Advancement and Vice Presidents Council. She will now also manage the prospect research area and work closely with me in developing plans and communications related to the USM Foundation. As Chief of Staff, Marianne will streamline communications among our staff and our clients and help to prioritize and complete critical projects.

The USM Foundation Endowment performed well on both an absolute and relative basis for fiscal year 2010 (see chart below). The endowment returned 13.6%, which compares favorably to its composite benchmark return of 8.8%. During the recent turmoil in the financial markets over the April-June period, the endowment performed very well on a relative basis, only declining 1.5% compared to many global equity markets that experienced sell-offs anywhere from -12% to -15%. Relative to traditional stocks & bonds strategies, the endowment continues to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns, i.e. about the same level of return but with considerably less volatility and less downside. Over the past five years, the endowment has annualized at 3.5% vs. 0.4% for the composite benchmark and -0.8% for the S&P 500.

As always, please contact me at raley@usmd.edu with any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Leonard R. Raley

Tags: Summer 2010

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 8:25 am