We are a small 4 year state liberal arts college in the Midwest, with an enrollment of approx. 1,000 students annually. Our Foundation began in 1996 and currently has an asset base of $2.1 million. Our development staff consists of 3 full-time staff members with additional part time assistance. Due to shortages in state funding, the University no longer covers the Foundation’s overhead fees for salary and fringe. This amounts to approximately $150,000 in overhead costs to our development office each year. To help combat general operating costs, we assess a small administration fee to manage our assets and a receipting fee on all revenue we generate. However, the amount generated is not nearly enough to cover the $150,000 for salary and fringe that we are faced with each year. We do not receive enough unrestricted funds to cover this amount either. My questions to you… How commonplace is this? Does your University cover any of the costs of your development office? If so, to what magnitude? I would welcome any thoughts, comments, or suggestions.

I am only on my 3rd day working with RE and within our Alumni and Development Office, but I can shed a bit of light on what we do. We are in the same boat as you. We have a couple of affinity programs that we use to both provide services to NAIT grads as well as generate some supplemental income. Through MelocheMonnex insurance we offer home and auto insurane at a discounted rate. For every NAIT grad that signs up, the A&D office gets a bit of money. Also we have an agreement with MasterCard Canada with a NAIT branded MasterCard. Same deal there - for every NAIT grad that signs up for the card, we get a bit of money. This extra cash is used to supplement our budget, and largely goes to training, and travel expenses. Check out http://www.nait.ab.ca/alumnait/  and look under "Benefits and Services" for more information. Cheers Peter Gulka Records Administrator - NAIT Alumni & Development Office Trailer 3 - 11762 106 St Edmonton AB T5G 2R1 email: [Email Removed] ph: (780) 471-7827 fax: (780) 471-8400