A Look Into the Endowment

A LOOK INTOTHE ENDOWMENT

The SARA Men’s Crew Endowment is going strong with assets topping $580,000. Since its inception in 2010, there has been over 400 dedicated alumni who have contributed to the Endowment. The mission of the Endowment is to endure the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of Syracuse Men’s Crew. It provides a long-term revenue stream to fund various initiatives including equipment purchases, travel expense for away regattas, coaching positions and capital projects such as crew room renovations and boathouse improvements.

Growing Our Investment The assets of the SARA Men’s Crew Endowment are managed in a blind trust by the Central New York Community Foundation (CNYCF). CNYCF was established in 1927 and has over $270 million in assets under management. This is a balanced, long-range view asset portfolio including domestic equities, international equities, fixed income securities and other asset classes. The current Endowment performance, as of Sept 30, 2018, is 8.6% one-year return and 10.6% three-year annual return, beating its respective benchmarks.

Governance The SARA Men’s Crew Endowment has a separate Board of Directors (Endowment Directors) which includes Joe Kieffer ’88, Ken Hutton ’69, Joe Paduda ’80, Lynn Pascale ’81, Jim Breuer ’72, Tracy Brown ’90, and Dan O’Shaughnessy ’06. Endowment Directors are dedicated SARA members with fund raising and asset management experience. The Endowment Directors meet a few times a year to review investment performance, contributions, donation campaigns and to discuss distribution requests.

Giving Back to the Team In 2018, the Endowment made a distribution for $16,100 to the Men’s Crew to support the design work of the crew room and to purchase six new ergometers for the team. Annual distributions are typically limited to 4.5% of the overall asset balance. The directors consult with Coach Reischman each year to consider any distribution requests. The SARA Endowment Board is the sole body that decides on how and when funds are distributed.

Contributions and Going Forward SARA’s annual Spring 2000-Hour Fundraising Campaign has shifted from the SARA Men’s Crew Endowment to the Men’s Crew Head Coaches Fund. Since that shift less than two years ago, close to $25,000 in donations have flowed into the SARA Endowment. The SARA Endowment is now focusing its fund raising efforts on estate planning and planned giving. Any and all donations to the SARA Endowment are always welcome and much appreciated. To donate click here www.cnycf.org/sara.

If there are any questions or comments, or if you would like to become involved in the SARA Men’s Crew Endowment, please contact Joe Kieffer ’88 at jkieffer@email.com or 267-228-1341.