ENDOWMENT – STRATEGIC INTEGRATION $5,000,000
Cathy Lewis (center) with Anne Conner and Caitlin King from TowneBank, Williamsburg
Public broadcasting is a robust medium that both respects and challenges its listeners’ intelligence. A central component in WHRO’s fiscally sound, responsible financial plan to eliminate reliance on state funding is an expanded endowment corpus. This strategy maintains WHRO’s commitment to the citizens in its service area, and enables the Station to absorb the more than $1 million in funding cuts in a manner that will cause as little disruption to its services as possible. The financial plan includes a strengthened endowment investment policy and a $5 million increase in endowment gifts. New endowment gifts secured during the INDEPENDENCE Campaign, utilizing five-year donor pledge periods, plus strong management of existing endowed funds, are projected to yield an endowment of between $15 and $20 million by 2018. This will strengthen WHRO’s financial position and provide the Station with the fiscal flexibility to address future essential programming needs. Cash and planned gifts to the endowment will provide the Board and management with a dynamic income stream, a stable and predictable source of revenue, managed to ensure its purchasing power keeps pace with inflation over time. The endowment component of the Campaign for INDEPENDENCE complements the philanthropic commitment of an engaged Board of Directors, a strong annual operating and membership campaign, and a resourceful management team. Each element is committed to maximizing earned income results that will meet reasonable goals of the annual budget and help WHRO achieve its strategic and long-term objectives.
"Loss of Government funding should be turned into an advantage and used to create a new model paradigm for handling fundraising." –Norfolk Community Leader