Advancement Perhaps you know that I’m a baseball fan. One of my favorite baseball players was Billy Loes, the eccentric former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher. Billy is famous for saying he lost a ground ball in the sun in the World Series and also for telling reporters he dropped a ball in his windup because he’d put too much spit on it. His most famous quote, though, was what he said when he was asked why he’d never won 20 games in a season, the hallmark of excellence for a big league pitcher. “My goodness,” he said. “If you do that once, you’re expected to do it every year.” Update from the Vice President of Advancement and Communications
Success can be a harder act to follow than failure. Billy Loes is the patron saint of those that want to set the bar low.
Jeff Munroe
Thankfully, that is not our reality. Through the grace of God and your faithfulness, Western Theological Seminary had another very successful year in 20122013. The other pages of this Annual Report tell about enrollment growth, new faculty and new degree programs, along with the expansion of our exciting Ridder and Newbigin initiatives. All of this consumes material resources, and the Advancement team at WTS works hard to secure the financial resources the seminary needs. By all measures we had a successful year raising money. Total giving to all seminary funds was over $5.4 million, following a year with giving over $5.3 million. These are the only “non-capital campaign” years in the seminary’s history when giving topped $5 million. We are so grateful for your generosity. We also are very aware that none of this takes place without the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Things happen that amaze us. A great illustration of this occurred last December when friends of the seminary took out a $2 million charitable gift annuity, the largest in our institution’s history. CGA’s are a “win-win,” providing income for both the donor and the seminary. They are a no-risk investment, providing greater returns than other guaranteed investments, and are especially attractive for retirees. (Interested in knowing more? Give me a call at the seminary.) There were several other significant gifts to the seminary last year. Highlights include gifts that funded expansion and renovation in our atrium and academic offices and gifts that allowed us to begin a new endowment in Christianity and literature in honor of our beloved late professor, Dr. James I. Cook. Another highlight was the work of the Class of 1963 to secure over $400,000 in bequest commitments to the Faculty Development Endowment Fund in celebration of the 50th anniversary of their graduation. The need for financial resources never wanes, and we have begun a strategic planning process that will culminate in launching a new capital campaign sometime in the next year. We are looking at the challenges caused by success and how to best use our space and facilities. Continued growth will also mean we need to grow our endowment funds and increase the number of student scholarships we have available. It’s been 13 years since the seminary has initiated a capital campaign. We’ll be in touch later to share our plans as they are finalized. Thank you for helping make 2012-2013 a great year for Western Theological Seminary.
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