Arts endowments bouncing back
The stock market’s recovery has lifted endowments that provide major support to local arts groups, but managers are keeping the conservative attitude they were forced to adopt two years ago.
The stock market’s recovery has lifted endowments that provide major support to local arts groups, but managers are keeping the conservative attitude they were forced to adopt two years ago.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is gearing up for a major campaign and will create a senior management position in fundraising.
CEO Maxwell Anderson said the national search for a “chief development officer” coincides with strategic planning
that will result in a capital campaign for a still-unspecified amount.
The Women’s Fund of Central Indiana recently completed an endowment drive that raised $7 million, making the endowment one
of the largest of its kind in terms of assets.
The IU Foundation recently cut 18 of 201 staff members but nonetheless is looking at adding reinforcements in fund raising.
Purdue University’s $1.45 billion endowment ranks ninth in the nation. IU came in at 11th with an endowment valued at about
$1.23 billion.
Endowments at Indiana colleges and universities are soaring, due in part to impressive investment returns in recent years.
The swelling coffers here and across the nation are stoking the debate over whether universities should be using more of their
wealth to hold down tuition increases.
Leaders of small not-for-profits often are so concerned with day-to-day survival that they have little–if any–time to worry
about saving for the future. A growing number of local organizations are bucking that trend, taking a proactive approach to
build an endowment its leaders hope will result in more stable, predictable income.