The Wayne State Foundation, founded in 1961, had a luncheon Friday, Oct. 6, to discuss how the year went and the foundation’s finances.
“The Wayne State Foundation’s sole purpose is a charity,” Kevin Armstrong, CEO of the Wayne State Foundation, said. The Wayne State Foundation is associated with WSC, but they are also sperate.
Armstrong said on Oct. 6, there were a lot of trustee events. They started with a workshop in the morning to discuss updates for the college in the Gardner Auditorium.
“The deans had a chance to speak, the president had a chance to speak, and some student speakers,” Armstrong said.
They then moved to a luncheon in the Frey Conference Suite in the student center for the yearly meeting to talk about the Wayne State Foundation’s finances.
“From there we went on and had a campaign celebration in the Peterson Fine Arts building,” Armstrong said. “Five years ago, we started a fundraising campaign to raise $30 million and we hit 35.1,” Armstrong said.
The brochure stated that $12.7 million was raised for scholarships. Nearly $6.9 million went to annual scholarships and $5.8 went to endowed scholarships. Also, 165 new scholarships were made. Around $1 million was allocated to Benthack Hall, $3.3 million went to the Athletic Recreation Complex and $2.4 million went to the Peterson Fine Arts Building.
Armstrong said these campaigns are not done every year, but the meetings are held every year in the student center for the Board of Trusties that live all around the country.
Armstrong said the Wayne State Foundation is an office of 8 people with over 150 trusties. They do not work for the college rather than for the Wayne State Foundation.
“Our role is to go around the country and talk to alumni and foundations and businesses to raise money for Wayne state,” Armstrong said. “Almost every student gets a scholarship of some sort. Most of those scholarships come from our office because we manage the scholarships and raise money for them.”
The foundation raises money and gives it to the college to cover the scholarships. Last year, the Wayne State Foundation raised $4,712,234 in financial support according to the Wayne State Foundation Annual Meeting. Around $2 million went to scholarships and grants, $2.3 million went to capital improvements and $434,005 went to general institutional support.
Armstrong said 8.9% of alumni donate which is almost double compared to peer institutions. The foundation only used 15 cents to raise a dollar which is low when compared to other charities that spend 80 cents to raise a dollar. Armstrong said the Wayne State Foundation has about 31 million in endowments which act similarly to retirement funds. It is invested and the profits from those investments are then donated.
