N.C. TRUST GIVES HOLLINS $1.5 MILLION

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993                   TAG: 9302190143
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
N.C. TRUST GIVES HOLLINS $1.5 MILLION
A North Carolina foundation announced Thursday that it will give Hollins College a $1.5 million matching grant to increase the college's endowment.
The grant - from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust - will be invested with the college's $46 million endowment. It is a 2-to-1 matching grant, meaning the college must match the $1.5 million gift by raising double that amount - $3 million - in the next three years.
It is the largest single foundation gift in the college's 150-year history.
The announcement coincided with Hollins' Founder's Day celebration. Thomas Kenan, a foundation trustee, announced the gift before an audience of Hollins trustees, alumnae and student leaders at a Founder's Day dinner Thursday night.
In a news release issued before the banquet, Kenan said the foundation chose to give the matching grant "in recognition of what Hollins has achieved in the past and what we believe to be a substantial contribution to producing future leaders of our society."
College President Maggie O'Brien called the gift "a remarkable opportunity to reach our dreams."
"Not only is this the largest foundation gift in Hollins' history, it is also a ringing endorsement of the strong liberal arts program Hollins offers," O'Brien said in a news release.
Hollins' endowment fund provides 12 percent of total operating revenues, said Tim Hill, vice president of business and finance. Student fees - tuition, room and board - fund the bulk of operating revenues, he said.
The endowment's contribution to operating revenues has remained fairly constant over the years, Hill said.
"We certainly would like to be in a position that our endowment funds provide a greater portion of our operating revenue, which would relieve the burden passed along to our students," Hill said. "It is gifts such as this very significant one that will enable Hollins to accomplish that in the future."
The college has been given substantial flexibility in how the earnings from the endowment gift can be used, Hill said. They will, in part, help increase endowment support of college operations, he said.
Hollins' financial condition has been tight, but no more so than at other times in the college's history, Hill said.
"There are times historically when Hollins has had to re-evaluate how it is using its money and re-evaluate its priorities to make certain we haven't lost sight of the primary mission of the institution - education," Hill said.
The Kenan Charitable Trust, based in Chapel Hill, N.C., established a matching grant program for selected four-year, private, liberal arts colleges several years ago to improve the quality and effectiveness of undergraduate teaching in the colleges.
The trust was established in 1966 through the bequest of William Rand Kenan Jr., an alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB