BANKIG ON BUCKS: SEMO FOUNDATION RECEIVED MORE THAN $51 MILLION SO FAR

The Southeast Missouri University Foundation has received more than $51 million in cash, land, buildings and other items since its inception 15 years ago.

The bulk of the gifts -- more than $30 million -- has come in cash, but there also have been other gifts.

A collection of William Faulkner materials valued at $2.6 million was among the gifts to the foundation in the 1988-1989 school year.

A former Pepsi building at Malden was donated in the 1987-1988 fiscal year. The building, valued at $3.3 million, was renovated for use as the Bootheel Education Center.

The foundation's first capital campaign, which ran from late 1989 through June 1992, raised $28.6 million in gifts and pledges, including $10 million in non-cash gifts. Another $7 million was in deferred gifts.

Some of the income was spread over several years. Some of the pledged donations have yet to be received, said the foundation's Wayne Davenport.

Today's fund-raising success has built on the past support of alumni and friends of the university, said Davenport, vice president of university advancement and the executive director of the fund-raising organization.

"The growth in the support the foundation has received to date is the foundation for the future," he said.

Churches are still the leading beneficiary of private philanthropy, but colleges and universities rank second or third, Davenport said.

The last audit shows the university foundation had $26.2 million in assets as of June 1997. That included $7.9 million worth of buildings, land, equipment and other items.

Liabilities totaled $9.5 million. That left total fund balances of $16.6 million.

Some people might think the foundation's rolling in dough, but Davenport said most of the income is restricted for specific uses.

People typically want their donations to go for specific programs or projects, he said.

"People don't generally give money without strings attached," Davenport said. The university foundation board can't just spend the money any way it wants.

Only $533,000 of the foundation's assets in the last fiscal year were in unrestricted funds.

In fiscal 1998, for example, the foundation received gifts totaling nearly $5.8 million, but only $191,522 of those gifts came with no strings attached.

Much of the cash funds 389 scholarships at Southeast, Davenport said.

In addition to private gifts, the foundation receives income from its operation of the Cape Girardeau license bureau.

The foundation receives $1.50 on each transaction at the license bureau. The rest of the revenue goes to the state.

Gov. Mel Carnahan put the foundation in charge of the local license bureau in October 1993, and from 1994 through 1997, the operation generated net income of $157,427 for the foundation.

Its largest profit was $47,731 in 1996; Its lowest was $35,386 in 1994. In 1997, the bureau garnered $37,116 for the foundation.

But even that money goes for specific uses as earmarked by the foundation board, Davenport said. In 1997, $18,119 of the net income was budgeted for scholarships, and another $17,000 went to help fund the Small Business Development Center at Southeast. Some $2,000 also went to the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce university relations committee.