Since the story broke about
The disclosure and the subsequent uproar came as SRJC was asking for donations to its "Bridge the Doyle" program, which aims to make up for some of the Doyle Scholarships lost when Exchange Bank cut off its stock dividends last year.
The dividends funded the Doyle program, which handed out about 4,000 scholarships annually, each worth $1,000 - about $76 million altogether over 58 years.
SRJC President Robert Agrella hosted our editorial board for lunch today, and he told us that his school's foundation doesn't make loans and only recently began dabbling in anything riskier than stocks. The board adopted a policy last year allowing investments of up to 5 percent of its money in hedge funds, Agrella said..
The foundation, by the way, lost 18 percent of its value in the past year - an ugly number but better than many investment funds.
Agrella said some donors have asked about the foundation's investment policy, but he doesn't think the SSU situation has had any impact. As for the "Bridging the Doyle" program, it has brought in a little more than $200,000.
Agrella said it may fund 400 scholarships worth $500, or 500 scholarships worth $400.
You can donate via the school's Web site, www.santarosa.edu/bridging-the-doyle.
- Jim Sweeney
what impact would the proposed legislation on college foundations have on the SRJC fund? for that matter, what's the gist of the proposed legislation that's been mentioned in some of the stories about the SSU foundation?
Glad to see SRJC wasn't as money hungery as SSU. Arminana (sp) wanted the Green Center at all costs, these costs were the future of America. SSU admin should all be fired for letting this happen!
Good question. Right now, the foundations aren't subject to the California Public Records Act. As a result, they don't have to provide much information about their assets, their investment portfolios, who they're doing business with and so forth. At Fresno State, for example, big donors were given free luxury suites at a new arena but the foundation wouldn't say which suites had been given away or to whom. Sonoma State, despite its professions of transparency, has refused to answer a lot of questions about its investments. Yee's bill would subject the foundations to the CPRA, which covers most public agencies --- including the universities that establish and manage these foundations.