ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090039
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
THANKS TO CONTRIBUTORS, the Foundation for Roanoke Valley sees its endowment reach a landmark level and hopes that by 2003 it can give $1 million a year to worthy area groups and individuals.
The Foundation for Roanoke Valley, which donated more than $200,000 to community groups and individuals last year, has passed the $6 million mark in building an endowment for the long-term benefit of the community.
That exceeds the foundation's initial goal, set in 1988, of achieving a critical mass of $5 million in permanent endowment assets. The foundation had no assets when it set up its office in 1990.
In addition, the foundation has future commitments of more than $7.5 million through bequests and other deferred estate gifts.
The foundation was formed to receive charitable gifts and bequests from Roanoke Valley residents who wish to give to the community. It administers 32 named endowment funds with assets exceeding $6 million. The funds range from the minimum of $10,000 to more than $1 million.
Alan Ronk, executive director of the foundation, said funds can be tailored in virtually any fashion to meet the donors' own charitable objectives. Donors can rely on the foundation to make grant selections each year, or they can be active partners in the grant process.
Ronk said the foundation receives the most favorable treatment allowed under tax law. It offers donors a full-market-value deduction on gifts of highly appreciated securities, a benefit that no longer extends to private foundations.
Funds can be created in minutes with no set-up cost, Ronk said. Annual administrative costs are 1percent of the fund's market value. Professional investment management costs for endowed funds run about 1/20.5 percent.
In 1995, the foundation awarded more than $214,000 to more than 75 agencies working in health, education, social services, the arts, the environment and other fields. That compares with awards of $56,000 in 1994.
Recent recipients include the Bradley Free Clinic, Greenvale Nursery, Good Samaritan Hospice, Apple Ridge Farm, Child Health Investment Partnership, West End Center, Head Start, Blue Ridge Zoological Society, Roanoke Area Ministries and Opera Roanoke. An 11-year-old also received four semesters of piano lessons at Hollins College.
The foundation expects to make grants worth about $250,000 this year.
Ronk estimated the foundation will achieve assets of $10 million by 1998 and $25 million in 2002. Deferred commitments should reach similar figures. If those estimates hold in the years ahead, Ronk said, grants should reach $1 million by 2003.
On the national level, the 476 community foundations in the country experienced record growth in 1995. New gifts exceeded $1 billion for the first time, and assets totaled $10billion.
The Roanoke Valley foundation has assets larger than 55 of the 88 community foundations in the 12 Southeastern states, Ronk said.
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