2008 Woodie Awards
Pontiac award invested
$105,000 goes into endowment; beginning in 2009, interest will fund student scholarships
Jessica Betancourt
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: News
The $105,000 awarded to the University for the Pontiac Game-Changing Performance of the Week and subsequent Performance of the Year honors will contribute to Trinity's endowment fund and then provide scholarships, but not until 2009.
University policy regulates the use and investment of such gifts and based on these guidelines, the money will be invested and the interest used to provide scholarships.
"When an endowment is created, the principal cannot be invaded," said Director for University Advancement Rick Roberts. "The interest is where the scholarships come from. The money would probably take a year before it earns enough interest to generate money for a scholarship."
Since the money would spend the next fiscal year earning interest, the earliest a scholarship could be awarded is fall 2009.
According to Vice President for Fiscal Affairs Craig McCoy, the money was put into the unrestricted undergraduate scholarship fund and it is usually University policy that any endowments it receives be invested and the interest generated for use.
"We simply make a donation to the scholarship fund of the University," said Jim Hopson, communication manager for Pontiac. "Pontiac does not have any stipulations other than that the money goes into a general scholarship fund and not a specific fund for an organization."
The University Board of Trustees has an investments committee that reviews the performance of the approximately 25 money managers who handle the school's money. Each money manager has an area of expertise and invests a portion of the University's money within that specialty. This creates a highly diversified portfolio and limits the amount of risk.
"Universities tend to be conservative and that's appropriate because they need reliability of the income and safety of the principals," said Carl Hubbard, professor of Business Administration.
McCoy noted that Trinity controls slightly more than one half of the endowment, which was $991 million as of May 31, 2007. He suspects that number is about the same today after a slightly disappointing year for investments and the addition of a large amount of money from the Pontiac scholarship among other sources.
University policy regulates the use and investment of such gifts and based on these guidelines, the money will be invested and the interest used to provide scholarships.
"When an endowment is created, the principal cannot be invaded," said Director for University Advancement Rick Roberts. "The interest is where the scholarships come from. The money would probably take a year before it earns enough interest to generate money for a scholarship."
Since the money would spend the next fiscal year earning interest, the earliest a scholarship could be awarded is fall 2009.
According to Vice President for Fiscal Affairs Craig McCoy, the money was put into the unrestricted undergraduate scholarship fund and it is usually University policy that any endowments it receives be invested and the interest generated for use.
"We simply make a donation to the scholarship fund of the University," said Jim Hopson, communication manager for Pontiac. "Pontiac does not have any stipulations other than that the money goes into a general scholarship fund and not a specific fund for an organization."
The University Board of Trustees has an investments committee that reviews the performance of the approximately 25 money managers who handle the school's money. Each money manager has an area of expertise and invests a portion of the University's money within that specialty. This creates a highly diversified portfolio and limits the amount of risk.
"Universities tend to be conservative and that's appropriate because they need reliability of the income and safety of the principals," said Carl Hubbard, professor of Business Administration.
McCoy noted that Trinity controls slightly more than one half of the endowment, which was $991 million as of May 31, 2007. He suspects that number is about the same today after a slightly disappointing year for investments and the addition of a large amount of money from the Pontiac scholarship among other sources.
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