Endowment

College and university endowment managers already recall the 1987 bull market with all the misty fondness of a long-ago graduation. For on Monday, years of innocence and prosperity for educational endowments ended with the same abruptness that comes when the party ends and a graduate goes to work. Stanford University reported yesterday that it lost $200 million of its $1.5 billion endowment during the market's dramatic slide. But the paper loss will have no real effect on the university's operations during fiscal 1987-1988, according to William F. Massy, vice president for business and finance.

When musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra went on strike last fall, the orchestra's board repeatedly cited the orchestra's accumulated $2.2 million deficit as one reason for not giving players a raise as large as the one they requested. But even as orchestra chairman Peter A. Benoliel continued to cite the deficit, the orchestra already had taken $2.3 million from its coffers to pay it down. And that $2.3 million came from the orchestra's unrestricted endowment, said Michael G. McDonough, the orchestra's finance director.

The Penn Relays always has depended on the kindness of strangers. It's also always depended on sunny weather. Gate receipts provide a large portion of the funding for the event. But lately, that's just not enough. After several years in which the Relays' budget had to be shored up with major contributions from helpful fans - TV magnate Bill Cosby and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner among them - organizers are hoping to build an endowment that could provide for the Relays' long-term financial security.

Endowment and trust funds suffered the same blow that crushed individual investors during Monday's Wall Street crash. Endowment funds at area colleges lost millions of dollars in value. The market value of the University of Pennsylvania's huge endowment fund alone is believed to have declined by tens of millions. Between the peak of the market Aug. 25 and the low point Monday, the Pew Charitable Trusts lost $830 million in market value. Administrators at Haverford College estimated the value of its endowment fund portfolio fell by as much 25 percent between Sept.

Cheyney University, the oldest historically black college in the United States, has established an $878,000 endowment fund for student scholarships, the first such fund at the 150-year-old institution, university officials announced yesterday. During a ceremony at Cheyney's Urban Education Foundation at 46th and Market Streets in West Philadelphia, President LeVerne McCummings called the occasion "a very significant day in the life of this institution. " The money is from three sources.

The man who put the Big Mac in a plastic foam container is placing international competition prominently on the menu of offerings at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Jon M. Huntsman, chairman and president of Huntsman Chemical Corp. of Salt Lake City, has donated $4 million to Wharton to establish a center on competition that will bear his name. The Huntsman Center for Global Competition and Leadership will help give studies at Wharton a more international flavor, said William P. Pierskalla, who has been named director of the center.

Pennsylvania State University had the nation's fourth-fastest-growing endowment from 2009 through 2012, according to a ranking from Bloomberg News. The value of Penn State's endowment climbed to $1.78 billion, from $1.23 billion, for a three-year annual average growth rate of 14.46 percent. The University of Pittsburgh ranked fifth. Its endowment averaged 13.66 percent annual growth to reach a value of $2.62 billion. Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania were also on the list, which included endowments worth at least $1 billion last year.

The University of the Arts in Philadelphia has received its largest gift in its 130-year history - $25 million, officials announced yesterday. The gift came from philanthropist Dorrance H. "Dodo" Hamilton and will be used to bolster the university's endowment, allowing other funds to be used for student scholarships, campus development, and recruiting and retaining new faculty. Unlike many contributions to universities, Hamilton's gift will be used exclusively to boost the school's endowment.

Gardner C. Hendrie, a 1950 graduate of Friends Central School, has given a $1 million gift to the school's fund-raising campaign. His gift - the third largest in the school's 146-year-history - will endow a fund to enrich mathematics and science programs, from pre-kindergarten to high school. Income from the endowment also will fund professional development and faculty salaries at the Quaker school. Hendrie has named his fund the Fannie Cox Fund for Science and Mathematics as a memorial to his mother, who was a librarian at Drexel University for many years.

Bell of Pennsylvania presented a $1 million gift to Temple University yesterday to establish a professorial chair in telecommunications aimed at attracting prominent scholars and strengthening the university as a center for research and education in the field. As smiling Temple officials looked on, Gilbert A. Wetzel, Bell president, said at a news conference on the North Philadelphia campus that "telecommunications is the most explosive field in American and world industry. " "There is a very serious need to provide talented people to manage the technology," Wetzel said.

The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation would take over the Rosenbach Museum and Library under the terms of a letter of intent approved Tuesday by their boards. The memorandum of understanding leaves important details to be negotiated, but aims to make the Rosenbach a subsidiary of the library by June 30. Such a deal would likely require the approval of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, and, depending on the way it is structured, perhaps also of Orphans' Court.

With museums across the country trying to bring more patrons through their doors - some by waiving admission fees, others by regularly seasoning high culture with cabaret-style entertainment - the Philadelphia Museum of Art recently unveiled a promising strategic plan that shows the city-owned museum has no intention of being left behind. In fact, the Art Museum has set an aggressive goal of boosting annual visits to its grand home atop the Rocky steps by no less than 45 percent over the next five years or so. That would add more than 300,000 patrons and pass the one million mark.

In the Region DEP radiation study detailed The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Wednesday released detailed plans for its comprehensive radiation study of oil and gas development and said it intends to begin sampling this month. The agency plans to analyze radioactivity levels of flowback waters, treatment solids, drill cuttings, and drilling equipment, along with the transportation, storage, and disposal of drilling wastes. DEP says current data do not indicate any health risks, but activists have raised concerns about naturally occurring radioactivity in materials extracted from the mile-deep wells.

Pennsylvania State University had the nation's fourth-fastest-growing endowment from 2009 through 2012, according to a ranking from Bloomberg News. The value of Penn State's endowment climbed to $1.78 billion, from $1.23 billion, for a three-year annual average growth rate of 14.46 percent. The University of Pittsburgh ranked fifth. Its endowment averaged 13.66 percent annual growth to reach a value of $2.62 billion. Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania were also on the list, which included endowments worth at least $1 billion last year.

Class starts with an outlook on the U.S. economy and consumer confidence, and then the analyst's sales pitch begins: Will the fund be spending its precious dollars buying shares of VF Corp. (VFC), maker of North Face, Nautica, Timberland and Vans fashions, and Lee and Wrangler jeans? The fund just bought 75 shares in Qualcomm (QCOM) last week at $65.84, making a bet on a rebound in 2013 sales of chips for mobile handsets. And in April, the investment committee will hear a pitch for Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)

Class starts with an outlook on the U.S. economy and consumer confidence, and then the analyst's sales pitch begins: Will the fund be spending its precious dollars buying shares of VF Corp. (VFC), maker of North Face, Nautica, Timberland and Vans fashions and Lee and Wrangler jeans? The fund just bought 75 shares in Qualcomm (QCOM) last week at $65.84, making a bet on a rebound in 2013 sales of chips for mobile handsets. And in April, the investment committee will hear a pitch for Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)

With a $10 million gift from a member of its board of trustees, the University of Pennsylvania will establish a "world house" on campus to consolidate its global activities, officials announced. The gift comes from trustee Richard C. Perry and his wife, Lisa A., and also will be used to establish the Richard Perry Endowed Professorship to be affiliated with the house. The Perry World House, on Locust Walk at 38th Street, will include a "global solutions program" in which world leaders and faculty experts will take on a new problem every year - such as access to clean water - and develop solutions.

The University of Pennsylvania exceeded its recent fund-raising goal by almost $1 billion, bringing in $4.3 billion in its "Making History Campaign," officials announced Thursday. Penn surpassed the $3.5 billion target, announced in 2007, 16 months before the official end of the campaign in December. That's especially noteworthy considering that the campaign was launched just before the country plunged into recession. The university has used the money to increase financial aid, support research and interdisciplinary programming, and boost its endowment.

The University of Pennsylvania exceeded its fundraising goal by almost a billion dollars, bringing in $4.3 billion in its "Making History Campaign," officials announced Thursday. Penn surpassed the $3.5 billion target, announced in 2007, 16 months before the official end of the campaign in December. That's especially noteworthy considering the campaign was launched just before the country plunged into a recession. The university has used the funds to increase financial aid, support research and interdisciplinary programming and boost its endowment.

With a $60 million endowment on the line, a fight is brewing over the NCAA's plans for abuse prevention in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child-sex scandal. College sports' governing body hopes to use the money - funded by fines assessed against Pennsylvania State University - to tackle the problem nationwide. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania lawmakers argue the state's money should be spent entirely within its borders. But amid the increasing tension, child advocates worry that the territorial debate over the money has overshadowed more critical questions of how the money could best be used.