Raisng
Endowment
Funds:
The Planned
Giving Team
at SPU

The SPU Planned Giving team (from left): Jim Reynolds, Gene Keene, Stacy Nims, Bob McIntosh and Roy Boettcher

"How we raise money for the endowment is important," says Gene Keene, director of planned giving at Seattle Pacific University. "The relationships we form with donors, and the investment policies with which we manage their money, must flow from a shared set of values."

It is not uncommon for Keene and his field staff to connect with alumni and friends of the University on a more private, and often emotional, level. Because they advise on significant personal financial matters, they are often received like adopted family members by those who have a special love for SPU.

"We get excited to show donors what their money is doing for students," Keene says. "It's satisfying to help them understand the benefit of investing for the long-term. Because we develop a relationship, we go back and visit and encourage them."

The relationship approach to endowment-building means creativity and flexibility as well. The SPU team has coordinated gifts to the University in many forms, including real estate, life insurance, yachts, art collections, antiques, gemstones and corporate stock. The items may be held or sold as the markets dictate.

By establishing trusts, annuities, endowments and other giving vehicles, donors are able to realize many of the goals closest to their hearts, says Keene. "Through careful financial arrangements, they are also often able to lessen their personal tax burden."

"The Planned Giving Office at SPU does a much better job at gift planning than I ever could," says Al Howell, former member of the SPU Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Joye, wanted to make a major estate gift to the University, but it involved the complexities of a commercial property.

Keene, a CPA, as well as a former corporate financial officer and small-business owner, persisted through the challenging transaction and the result was complete avoidance of capital gains tax and a unitrust that pays the Howells an income for life. When they die, the trust fund will go to Seattle Pacific and other designated charities.

"People like the Howells endow the future of SPU," says Keene. "They're the ones who truly make this place secure in the long run."

Managing
Endowment
Funds:
The Seattle
Pacific
Foundation

Established eighteen years ago to provide professional management for the University's endowment, the Seattle Pacific Foundation (SPF) is a relative newcomer among college investment funds. With nearly 70 charitable trusts and more than 160 named endowments, Foundation assets have climbed to almost $39 million, and will generate in excess of $770,000 for scholarships and academic programs this year. Five years ago, the amount generated was just $430,000.

Students are not the only beneficiaries. For calendar year 1997, SPF is projected to distribute in excess of $940,000 to trustors who have placed money under SPF management.

The Foundation's consistently strong showing, says SPF Executive Director and Treasurer Gordon Nygard, is due to the progressive and highly skilled Foundation board and its investment committee. Members have decades of banking, pension fund and investment experience.

"There's little turnover; the group is very diverse; and we've found a disciplined approach that nevertheless allows us to manage funds aggressively," says Nygard, a 1973 SPU alumnus who has 16 years of banking administration experience. He is aided by trust accountant Mike Potratz, who prior to his 12 years at SPU worked for Ross Perot's Texas firm, Electronic Data Systems.

"The genius of the Foundation is how closely it is wedded to the University," says Don Mortenson, who is both vice president for business and planning at SPU and president of SPF. "I report directly to the president of the University and the Foundation directors are appointed by SPU's Board of Trustees."

LaVerne Dotson is an attorney and accountant with the legal firm of Lane, Powell, Spears and Lubersky LLP. An expert in tax, trusts and deferred giving, he has for many years advised Seattle Pacific on complex tax matters and donations as unusual as a large gift of gold dust. Dotson says the financial managers of the Foundation and University are some of the most competent he's ever worked with.

"Other foundations are very bureaucratic and standardized," Dotson notes. "But at SPU - and you can't separate the Foundation from the University - they're overwhelmingly more creative in working with donors."

For a copy of the 1996 Seattle Pacific Foundation Annual Report, call 206/281-2993.

Please read our disclaimer. Send any questions, comments or correspondence about Response to jgilnett@spu.edu or call 206-281-2051. Copyright © 1999 University Communications, Seattle Pacific University. Seattle Pacific University Office of University Communications 3307 Third Avenue West Seattle, Washington 98119-1997 United States of America