Sincerely,
Dear Friends,
Thank you! That is the message we communicated to the more than 500 individuals who attended the annual Scholarship Celebration where scholarship donors were paired with their scholarship recipients; that is the message conveyed in our more than 4,600 gift receipts sent to generous scholarship donors in the past year; and that is the message extended to you in this Annual Report for sharing your resources in support of the mission of the College Heights Foundation.
Western Kentucky University embarked upon a transformative journey in 2018. Through a collaborative effort, Climbing to Greater Heights: the WKU Strategic Plan 2018-2028, was unveiled. This plan was the culmination of many months of work from a strategic planning steering committee and working groups who were tasked with capturing our shared aspirations for the University for the next decade and how to make those a reality. We hope you will take the time to become more familiar with the strategic plan (www.wku.edu/strategicplan), and we thank you in advance for the role you can play in the implementation of some of its elements.
The College Heights Foundation will continue to play an integral part for the University over the next decade just as it has for the past century. As it indicates in the strategic plan, WKU is an institution of access and opportunity. It is incumbent upon us to ensure every interested student who aspires to be a Hilltopper has the ability to attend WKU and participate fully in the WKU Experience. CHF has been unwavering in our commitment to providing financial assistance to deserving students as they begin their climb toward a higher education. We are only able to provide that financial assistance due to the generosity of our loyal supporters, and so again, we say thank you.
Thank you for helping more students than ever before achieve their dreams of a college education. Thank you for providing opportunities to students who otherwise might have viewed their WKU experience as being out of reach. Thank you for transforming lives for generations to come!
2018 CHF STAFF
The staff in the College Heights Foundation is responsible for the daily administration and operations of the organization. We are pleased to be the stewards of the more than 1,200 individual scholarship funds that have been entrusted in our care. We are unwavering in our commitment to administer each fund in accordance with the guidelines established by each donor. We are also grateful for the resources you have shared in support of the mission to provide financial assistance to deserving students to obtain an education. Collectively, our staff has more than 120 years of experience at Western Kentucky University. Pictured from left to right are: Donald Smith, President; Sarah Reynolds, Office Coordinator; Sue Miller, Executive Secretary; Gena Gooding, Treasurer; Jessica Carver, Vice President; Jeannie Bryant, Office Assistant; Beth Keltner, Office Associate; and Laurie Basham, Scholarship Coordinator.
View our “Thank You” Video www.wku.edu/scholarships/celebration.phpWKU | COLLEGE HEIGHTS FOUNDATION
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Mr. H. Alexander Downing Dr. Jack G. GlasserGen. Edward Daniel Cherry
Mr. Joe B. Natcher, Jr. Ms. Wanda J. ScottDr. Jerry W. Martin
Hon. Freddie L. Travis Mrs. Carol H. Wedge Vice Chair
Mr. Michael L. Simpson Chair
Mr. R. Harvey Johnston, III Mr. Marc A. LovellMr. Clarence E. Glover
Statement of Financial Position
Investment Allocation
Cash and cash equivalents $2,510,477 Interest and dividends receivable $67,420 Investments $62,833,930
Beneficial interest in third party trusts $4,991,229 Assets held for others $2,481,929 Fixed assets, net of depreciation $1,385,241 Total assets $74,270,226
LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS
Liabilities Accounts payable $1,467,790 Refundable advances and gift annuity liabilities $2,502,545 Liability for assets held for others $2,481,929 Total liabilities $6,452,264
Net assets Without Donor Restrictions $974,819 With Donor Restrictions $66,843,143 Total net assets $67,817,962 Total liabilities and net assets $74,270,226
WKU | COLLEGE HEIGHTS FOUNDATION
ADMINISTERED BY CHF
$ 6.86M CASH & REALIZED GIFTS
20M
30M
40M
50M
60M
70M
80M
INCREASE IN TOTAL ASSETS
SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED BY CHF
ABROAD EXPERIENCE
Other 7.3%
Senior 34.9%
Junior 18.2%
Sophomore 22%
Freshman 17.6%
YOUR ENDOWMENT COULD PROVIDE
A SAMPLE OF WHAT
REPRESENTED AT TOP 6 STATES
A T A G L A N C E Warren 3,270 Jefferson 1,653 Barren 801 Daviess 760 Hardin 755 Logan 491 Oldham 484 Fayette 422 Nelson 391 Ohio 314
KENTUCKY COUNTIESTOP 10
STUDIED ABROAD (Fall 2017 through Summer 2018; Degree-seeking students only, U.S.
Citizens or Permanent Residents only)
FEMALE 11,725 (60.2%)
MALE 7,736 (39.8%)
GENDER Students by
UNDERGRADUATE 17,035 (87.5%)
GRADUATE 2,426 (12.5%)
Students by Students by
students A T A G L A N C E
WKU | COLLEGE HEIGHTS FOUNDATION
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Western Kentucky University is focused on providing innovative ways to remove barriers for access and opportunity for students who aspire to be a Hilltopper.
Part of Climbing to Greater Heights: the WKU Strategic Plan, the WKU Opportunity Fund is a $50 million fundraising campaign dedicated to ensuring students have the ability to attend and participate fully in the WKU Experience, regardless of their financial situation.
“One of our priorities as a student-centered university is to remove those barriers that prevent someone from pursuing higher education or realizing the full educational experience available at WKU,” said Kacy S. Caboni, Director of Principal Gifts and Special Projects at WKU. “The collection of resources that
will be available because of the Opportunity Fund will enable us to make the WKU experience available to more students who might otherwise miss out.”
The campaign’s three priorities are recruitment, retention and experiences beyond the classroom.
Scholarship support allows students to focus on their education without the worry of mounting debt through loans. Increasing scholarship opportunities makes the WKU experience attractive to more students regardless of their financial situation and background, including the 35 percent of our student population that are first- generation college students.
Sometimes it is just a few hundred dollars that can cause them to drop out or not continue to graduation. These retention funds are designed to help them over those hurdles. Education is also more than books and classrooms. Students’ educational experiences are significantly enhanced by attending conferences, studying abroad, pursuing research, participating in national internships and other similar experiences beyond the classroom. Yet, these opportunities can be out of reach for students who are struggling to make ends meet.
“The Opportunity Fund is not one centralized pot into which we will be placing these gifts,” said Caboni. “As always, donors are encouraged to support areas that are meaningful to them. The Opportunity Fund campaign builds on the WKU tradition of helping deserving students and will ensure that permanently endowed funds will support student-centered initiatives and positively affect the lives of future generations of Hilltoppers.”
Why do you support the WKU Opportunity Fund?
“A scholarship like this would have been useful to us personally,” said Sherrie Swanberg (’79). “This is a way to help students who really want to be educated by opening up opportunities they may not have otherwise.”
“The needs-based aspect really spoke to us,” added Chris Swanberg (’81). “We both come from modest backgrounds, so being able to make this available seemed like a great way to give back. The WKU Opportunity Fund is such a unique way to make a difference for students.”
Chris and Sherrie Swanberg established the Swanberg Shuler Opportunity Scholarship Fund to support WKU students from both Henderson County High School and Owensboro High School, Chris and Sherrie Swanberg’s respective high schools, through renewable scholarship opportunities.
continues tradition of access and opportunity
Opportunity fund
• There is a shortfall in renewable resources available for scholarships.
• Students from Kentucky represent 78% of our student population.
• First-generation undergraduate college students represent 35% of our population.
• Full-time undergraduate students receiving financial assistance represent 64% of our population.
• Financial ability is often the only impediment hindering a student from taking advantage of career-enhancing experiences like unpaid internships.
• Emergency situations arise that can prevent a student from persisting to graduation.
• Campus employment opportunities are convenient and beneficial to both the student and employer but are limited.
43 WHY DO WE NEED THE WKU OPPORTUNITY FUND?
NEW SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
Fund in 2018
Appling and Mosley Scholarship Fund John Asher Scholarship Fund Jeffrey T. Baynham Scholarship Fund Ed Bohlander Scholarship Fund Dan E. Brawner Scholarship Fund for Artistic Development Brandon Brown Scholarship Fund Curtis Cary, MD, Class 2000 Scholarship Fund LJ Cross Scholarship Fund Jadee Rose Faverman Scholarship Fund First Generation Scholarship Fund Mildred Kerr Fox Scholarship Fund Joan Bailey Garrison Scholarship Fund Clarence Glover Equity and Inclusion Scholarship Fund Ray Graham Memorial Scholarship Fund Paul Gray Memorial Scholarship Fund David and Sandra Hartman Scholarship Fund Billie P. Hatcher Scholarship Fund David Heard Memorial Scholarship Fund Terry Hines Scholarship Fund James Christopher Holman Scholarship Fund John 3:16 Scholarship Fund Hillary and Devin Kelly Play For A Purpose Scholarship Fund Mary Kilgore Underrepresented Student Scholarship Fund Rhea Lazarus Scholarship Fund Steven W. Lyle Scholarship Fund Margaret Johnson Macdonald Scholarship Fund Micatrotto Family Opportunity Fund for Athletics Mike and Rory The Westminster Irish Setters Scholarship Fund Jennifer and Karl Miller Scholarship Fund Jane Leslie Newberry Study Abroad Scholarship Terry and Sharon Parker Scholarship Fund Brittney Gorman Parrish Memorial Scholarship Fund Lanwood and Ralph B. Price Scholarship Fund Swanberg Shuler Opportunity Scholarship Fund Nick and Nowelle Sigman Scholarship Fund Student Alumni Ambassador Student Assistance Fund Edward Lee Tudor, BSN, Memorial Scholarship Fund Joe Henry and Martha Arney Weidemann Scholarship Fund Wells Fargo Military Support Scholarship Fund Rebecca Howard Whittaker Endowed Scholarship Fund Bill Whittaker Endowed Scholarship Fund Dr. Hugh H. and Debby G. Wilhite Scholarship Fund WKU IFC Interfraternalism Scholarship
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The College Heights Foundation will relocate its offices to the Cliff Todd Center located at 1703 Chestnut Street, in the fall of 2019.
The offices for the College Heights Foundation were previously in the Foundation Building constructed in 1969 for $237,000 as an extension to the Craig Alumni Center. After 50 years, that facility increasingly presented a number of challenges with deferred maintenance, accessibility, and sufficient space for growth. A renovation of the existing Foundation Building was explored as well as the possibility of constructing a new facility on its site. However, both of those options ultimately proved too costly to pursue.
Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Cliff Todd, a 1950 alumnus and generous philanthropist, the College Heights Foundation was able to pursue an option that would provide a home for the College Heights Foundation for our next century and beyond.
CLIFF TODD CENTER New office location for College Heights Foundation
The College Heights Foundation and Western Kentucky University are very near and dear to my heart,” Todd explained. “I have seen first- hand the number of students whose lives have been transformed by scholarship support, and it has been my pleasure to play a small part in making their educational dreams a reality. After visiting the Foundation Building a number of times, it became very apparent that I could make a notable difference by ensuring the College Heights Foundation had appropriate office space for the future so they could continue their role of helping deserving students. I have always had an interest in historic preservation so providing the funds for the Foundation to acquire the Bird Lawn property was very intriguing to me. I am humbled that WKU has decided to name the center in recognition of my gift, and I’m excited about helping the College Heights Foundation prosper over its next 100 years.
Cliff Todd, 1950 WKU Alumnus and generous philanthropist
WKU | COLLEGE HEIGHTS FOUNDATION
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The Cliff Todd Center is located on 3.2 acres at 1703 Chestnut Street adjacent to the WKU campus. This historic, Colonial Revival home was completed in 1899 and has been affectionately known as Bird Lawn, the name given to it by Carl D. Herdman, a local ornithologist and flower enthusiast, who occupied it with his family in the early decades of the last century. The home stands on land that was part of a larger farm tract, much of which is now part of the south end of WKU’s main campus.
Bird Lawn was most previously occupied by John and Susan Minton. As the Mintons thought about relocating, they also considered how they could make a charitable gift to WKU through a bargain sale in the process. Susan’s father, the late Roger M. Page, was a lifelong friend of WKU, and her mother, the late Hattie Sullivan Page, attended WKU. John is a 1974 WKU alumnus, and his late father was a former President of WKU. “Our family has loved this home and our close affiliation with WKU,” Minton said. “Most of the families who have preceded us at Bird Lawn have all lived here for roughly a generation, and we have enjoyed 26 years here and created special memories for ourselves and our children. As we considered our next step, we were keenly interested in finding an owner who would ensure the preservation of this historic setting and protect the integrity of this neighborhood. When we heard the College Heights Foundation was looking for a new home, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to achieve our joint goals of making a gift to WKU while also ensuring that this historic property would be placed in good hands where it would be preserved for future generations.”
The College Heights Foundation Board of Directors thoroughly deliberated all the possibilities for the future home of our operations and ultimately determined that 1703 Chestnut Street provided the best opportunity to preserve our past while looking to our future. The location is more easily accessible to our community, students and donors, and also allows the space necessary for future growth. We are proud to call the Cliff Todd Center the new home for the College Heights Foundation.
Bird Lawn, Built in 1899 by E.R. Bagby
Iris Gardens at Bird Lawn
Western Kentucky Normal School pictured in background
WKU | COLLEGE HEIGHTS FOUNDATION
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Gifts of Cash Mail College Heights Foundation 1906 College Heights Blvd., #41016 Bowling Green, KY 42101
Call (270) 745-4597
Closely Held Stock
Please visit our ways of giving site, www.wku.edu/chf/giving.php, for more information. You can also contact us at 270-745-4597 to discuss some of these giving vehicles in greater detail to determine the option that might be best for your individual philanthropic needs.
+253 112 593 -210 734
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