Occidental College Annual Report, 2018-19

O C C I D E N TA L C O L L EG E

2018-2019

F ROM T H E

PR ES I DENT

D

oubling down on the transformative power of a liberal arts education, Occidental launched the public phase of the most ambitious fundraising initiative in its history during the 201819 fiscal year: the $225 million Oxy Campaign For Good. With more than $147.7 million in commitments as of December 31, 2019, the campaign is built on a powerful sense of institutional momentum bolstered by an impressive record of achievement.

We welcomed our first class of Obama Scholars this year and launched the Obama Scholars Speakers Series with former Obama advisers David Plouffe and Ben Rhodes. The Obama Scholars were part of a new first-year class recruited from a record number of applications for the second consecutive year. This year we also welcomed an outstanding class of seven new tenure-track faculty, and named geologist Margi Rusmore as the inaugural Michael G. Gibby ’68 and Barbara J. Gibby ’68 Professor of Science.

We opened the renovated Payton Jordan Athletic Offices, as well as our new Oxy Arts building on York Boulevard, a community space dedicated to programming and exhibitions rooted in Northeast Los Angeles with a wide range of local partners.

This was also the year that our impressive Summer Research Program celebrated its 20th anniversary, Billboard named Oxy as having one of the country’s top music industry programs, and 18 students participated in Oxy’s unique Campaign Semester program.

None of this would have been possible without your support.

Thank you.

Jonathan Veitch President

F RO M THE BOA RD C HA IR The institutional momentum established over the past decade under President Jonathan Veitch will serve us well as we conduct a national search for Occidental’s 16th president. Jonathan, who announced his decision to step down in June 2020 after 11 years of service, has been a key factor in the College’s success. He leaves Occidental in a strong position, and we are grateful for his leadership.

Stephen Rountree ’71 Chair, Board of Trustees

CA M PAIG N L AUNCH ES FOR G OOD Occidental launched the public phase of The Oxy Campaign For Good—a comprehensive effort to raise $225 million to strengthen its financial aid endowment and academic and co-curricular programs—with a May 18 Campaign Leadership Summit on campus. Following an event-packed Homecoming & Family Weekend in October, the campaign spread its wings to the East Coast, with widely attended regional kickoffs in New York City and Boston. As of December 31, 2019, the campaign stood at $147.7 million.

J OU RN AL CH RONIC L ES A D MI SS ION P ROC ESS

At a time when college admission is under increasing scrutiny, a Wall Street Journal article published in November highlighted the integrity of Oxy’s process. “This makes us even MORE proud our daughter attends,” one current Oxy parent commented on Facebook, adding, “Thank you Oxy! You’ve made a great investment in our kid to be sure!”

DEG N A N SPE A RS N CA A HO N O R Track and field and volleyball standout Sabrina Degnan ’19 was among 30 semifinalists nationwide for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

A psychology major from Atascadero in Central California, she is the first Oxy athlete to be among the NCAA’s Top 30 and was recognized with her peers at the NCAA’s awards dinner in Indianapolis on October 20.

Degnan was a national qualifier in the javelin, won multiple SCIAC championships in both the hammer and javelin, and was named the SCIAC Field Athlete of the Year in 2019.

NATIONALLY LAUDED SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM TURNS 20 Occidental has been awarded the Council on Undergraduate Research’s 2019 Campus-Wide Award for Undergraduate Research Accomplishments (AURA) for its exemplary program that provides high-quality research experiences for its students. Oxy’s “robust undergraduate research effort permeates campus culture with evidence of substantive institutional commitment and active student engagement,” said a CUR statement. “The institution’s student researchers come from a wide range of disciplines and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Forty percent of student participants in Occidental’s summer research program are from non-science departments, demonstrating a dedication to undergraduate research access across the academic spectrum.”

OXY ARTS BREAKS BREAD WITH COMMUNITY Oxy Arts, the community-based arts hub of Occidental, launched the inaugural season for its newly opened space on York Boulevard with Breaking Bread in L.A., a three-month exploration of how food offers the possibility of cross-cultural connections in our cosmopolitan metropolis. The program coincides with a new food studies minor at Oxy.

7,501 APPLICANTS

THE CLASS OF 2023 AT A GLANCE

37%

ADMIT RATE

38% CALIFORNIA

STUDENTS FROM

562

FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

7% STUDENTS

INTERNATIONAL

R H OD ES ADDRESS ES CL I M AT E CH AN G E

Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser under President Barack Obama ’83 and author of the New York Times bestseller The World As It Is, spoke at Occidental April 18 as part of the College’s Barack Obama Scholars Program Speakers Series. “Everything we care about in the world, from migration, famine, the collapse of states, to the rise of terrorist groups, are all exacerbated by climate change,” he said. “We should be treating climate change as the organizing principle of our national security policy.”

OXY ’S MUSIC PRO G R A M H I TS BIL L BOA R D C HA RT

I NV ESTMENT SQUA D N AI LS PERFECT P ITCH Occidental’s Blyth Fund team walked away with second place in Stanford Finance’s Stock Pitch Championship as a first-time entrant in the annual competition. Teams from across the country vie to make the most effective pitch to purchase stock in a particular company in front of a panel of hedge fund managers, banking executives and Stanford faculty. Oxy’s all-senior team included (l-r) Julian Hardman, an economics major from Portland, Ore.; Blyth Fund President Pooja Singh, a biochemistry major from Sunnyvale; Blyth Vice President Michelle Kong, an economics major from Guangzhou, China; and Ryan-Yuzhe Zhu, an economics major from Ningbo City, Zheijiang, China.

Occidental has developed one of the country’s leading music business programs, according to Billboard magazine in its annual spotlight on industry-related courses at colleges and universities nationwide published in March. “Occidental’s highly regarded music program (works by faculty member/composer Adam Schoenberg earned two Grammy nominations in 2018) is further leveraging its location and alumni ties to the music industry,” Billboard noted. In addition to a new study track in music production and new courses in songwriting, the College recently hosted classroom visits by the likes of Ludwig Göransson (the Academy Award-winning composer of Black Panther) and Grammy-winning artist Esperanza Spalding.

T HE BOT TOM L I N E

T

he 2018-19 fiscal year was a period of moderate growth for Occidental. As of June 30, 2019, the College’s endowment stood at $448.1 million, a 3.7 percent increase over the previous year. The endowment produced an average 6 percent return. Occidental’s 2018-19 results exceeded the 4.2 percent median return of Cambridge Associates’ colleges and universities group with endowments between $100 million and $500 million.

Occidental’s fiscal management continues to keep the College in the black, with 10 consecutive balanced budgets. As part of an extended effort to preserve the purchasing power of the endowment, this year the College achieved its goal of reducing the endowment draw to 5 percent.

As we look ahead, keeping revenue growth greater than rising expenses remains our greatest challenge. The Oxy Campaign For Good seeks to raise a total of $225 million, more than half of which is intended to build the endowment. Given the continuing uncertainty of the investment environment and the current cost of tuition, the campaign—which already has raised 60 percent of its goal—is crucial to the College’s future.

Amos Himmelstein Chief Financial Officer

Christopher Varelas ’85 Chair, Investment Committee Occidental College Board of Trustees

E N D OW M E NT PE R FO R MANCE

Average annual compound returns as of June 30, 2019

1 year

OCCID EN TAL ENDOW MEN T 6.0%

70 /3 0 * BEN C H MARK 6.7%

3 year

9.6%

8.9%

5 year

4.5%

5.4%

10 year

8.4%

8.5%

15 year

7.1%

6.5%

R EVENUES Enrollment-based revenues Endowment support designated for operations

E X P E N D ITU RES $85,901,454 $20,847,073

66.4% 16.1%

Private gifts, grants and contracts

$12,360,793

9.6%

Federal and state grants and contracts

$4,608,928

3.6%

Auxiliary services (bookstore, conferences, filming, catering) Other TOTAL

* Invested 70% in global stocks (as measured by the MSCI All Country World index) and 30% invested in U.S. bonds (as measured by the BC Aggregate Bond Index).

$2,626,648

2.0%

$2,931,275

2.3%

$129,276,171

Instruction

$43,655,920

34.5%

Auxiliary services

$24,047,549

19.0%

Student services

$16,119,215

12.7%

Institutional support

$13,817,436

10.9%

Academic support

$11,370,312

9.0%

Advancement

$8,849,329

7.0%

Public service

$4,768,011

3.8%

$4,009,678

3.2%

Research TOTAL

$126,637,450

201 8 -19 G I V I N G N EW G I F TS AND P LE DGES BY SOURCE Alumni

$7,518,401

Corporations and Foundations

$3,757,128

Donor-advised Funds

$549,306

Parents

$740,133

Friends

$1,376,882

Trusts and Estates

$3,597,753

11.7%

Donor-advised Funds

TOTAL

4.3%

Parents

Friends

0.3%

Staff and Administration

Corporations and Foundations

11.2%

Trusts and Estates

$111,057

Staff and Administration

2.3%

1.7%

$14,572,865

Trustees

SOURCE

23.3%

$32,223,525

45.2%

Alumni

Trustees

17.3%

40.9%

Revocable Bequest Intentions

New Gifts

N EW GIFTS A ND PL E D GES BY T Y PE

T YPE

New Gifts

$5,562,639

Pledges

$13,491,140

TOTAL

Pledges

$32,223,525

9.3%

N EW G I F TS AND P LE DGES BY PURPOSE The Oxy Fund (unrestricted current operations)*

$8,509,401

Capital

$5,509,965

Undesignated

$10,235,166

TOTAL

Other

$4,968,823

Endowment

Other (includes restricted current operations)

$13,169,746

Revocable Bequest Intentions

41.9%

$3,000,170 $32,223,525

* In recent years we reported Oxy Fund cash receipts, which included new gifts and pledge payments. The cash receipts for FY19 were $4.7 million.

31.8%

15.4%

The Oxy Fund

PUR P OS E

26.4%

Endowment

Undesignated

17.1%

Capital

1600 Campus Road M-46 Los Angeles, CA 90041-3314

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