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Donors Boost Cal State Fullerton’s $26M Endowment Fund

Donors have kept giving to California State University, Fullerton’s fledgling endowment fund even if Wall Street hasn’t.

The school’s endowment has grown by 50% since mid-2007 to $26 million as of June 30, largely on the strength of giving by alumni, other donors, businesses and foundations.

“I would say even though 2009 was a tough year, our donors were still there supporting us,” said Debra Luther, treasurer of the Cal State Fullerton Philanthropic Foundation’s board of governors.

The endowment is used to fund courses, professors, scholarships, sports and other activities at Cal State Fullerton, the county’s largest school by students.

The endowment—and raising money for it—is relatively new for CSUF, which actively started fundraising in the 1990s to offset state budget cuts.

The school’s fund is small compared to some of the county’s other universities, including the University of California, Irvine and its $323 million endowment and Orange’s Chapman University with its $134 million fund.

CSUF’s investment returns on its endowment have been spotty in the past few years. Like others, the fund saw losses in late 2008 and early 2009, when its market value dropped about 10% below its book value.

The first half of this year also saw a small decline.

The university invests in conservative stock funds, bonds, real estate funds and other investments.

“We tend to have a very conservative risk profile,” Luther said.

Giving has been steadier and has accounted for just about all of the nearly $9 million added to the endowment since 2007.

“Obviously it was difficult fundraising at that time period, but we were still quite fortunate to maintain a nice level of new donation into the endowment,” Luther said. “We have a consistent inflow of donations.”

CSUF runs the largest school within the Cal State system with 36,000 students. But its endowment is smaller than a lot of other Cal State schools.

CSUF’s endowment ranks 12th among 23 Cal State schools.

“We are kind of right in the middle of the pack,” said Annette Feliciani, chair of CSUF Philanthropic Foundation.

Cal States with bigger endowments include California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, San Diego State University and California State University, Fresno.

“We are growing fast and catching up to some of our sister institutions,” said Ira Unterman, chief financial officer at CSUF.

The school’s endowment took shape under President Milton Gordon, who’s led CSUF since 1990.

“President Gordon is fond of making the statement that when he came to the university some odd years ago, the university didn’t even have an active alumni database,” Feliciani said.

CSUF, which was started 50 years ago, did not get a president of university advancement until 1985.

“About a quarter of a century ago, we started the efforts to raise additional dollars to support the institution as a whole,” Unterman said.

The school’s biggest donation came in 2008 when Steven Mihaylo, a 1969 grad and founder of Arizona’s Inter-Tel Inc., pledged $30 million to the business school. The gift came after Mihaylo gave $4.5 million to the business school in 2004.

The school has been working to build up its alumni base to reach out to former graduates for support.

CSUF has more than 200,000 alums. Nearly 80% of them stay in Orange County after graduation.

The school is appealing to donors to fund specific projects. They include an expansion of a nursing program, renovating athletic fields and a gymnasium and acquiring or renovating campus facilities.

“We’ve taken the approach that now is a great time to be telling our story,” said Michele Cesca, senior director of development for the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.

CSUF’s Titans baseball team, which has won four national championships, has helped attract donors, according to school officials.

The endowment foundation runs events throughout the year designed to draw in former students.

“Events are an opportunity to get them really excited and get caught up with what Fullerton has been doing since they graduated,” Cesca said.

The school hosts its Legends in Legacy program, a dinner event paying tribute to the school’s donors.

“We are pleased with our continued fundraising efforts and our ability year-after-year to have a good solid amount of donations coming in,” Luther said. “We are looking how we can increase the potential of the endowment while taking on little to no additional risks.”

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