Foundation Board of Trustees Winter 2019 Meeting

Highlights from January 25, 2019 Board Meeting

Board of Trustees Winter Board Meeting

The JMU Foundation committee and board meetings were held on Friday, January 25, 2019 at the JMU Festival Center.

The meetings began with investment reports from the JMU- Madison Investment Fund (student lead investment team for $200,000 of the Endowment) and reports by our investment committee. The student’s portfolio returned a 2.3% return for the calendar year 2018. Mr. Barry Purcell, chair of the JMU Foundation Investment committee and investment advisor Eric Riedlin of Monticello Associates reports on the endowment results of 6/30/2018 – 7.75% as well as the impact of the very volatility l 4^th quarter in the stock market. Mr. Riedlin reported that January 2019 is off to a good start and he expects the endowment to improve from the negative performance of the 4^th quarter.

Mr. Shawn Mooney, Director of the Valley Scholars program provide an in depth look into the Valley Scholars program and the critical impact it has on the student in our local middle school that could not imagine a college career before this opportunity was created by JMU. He reported that the first cohort of students were seniors in high school and applying to college this year for enrollment in the fall of 2019.

Dr. Nick Langridge provide an overview of the “Unleashed Campaign” and announced that the current fund campaign had grown to $130,000,000 with several recent gift to the COB and COE.

Mr. Coleman provide an overview of recent non-cash gifts which came in the form of private stock gifts (first six figure gift of this kind) and Gifts-In-Kind. He shared a brief history of gifts-in-kind received by the Foundation over the last twenty years which included art, minerals, personal property, a grand piano, software/technology, vehicles and hosting receptions.

Mr. Coleman informed the board that plans for a new 44,000 sq. ft. office building which will be shared with University Advancement, Card Services and the Print Services have been finalized. The contract with Harrisonburg Construction Company has been executed and the expected completion date is November 2020.

Mr. Coleman acknowledged that May 22, 2019 is the 50^th anniversary of the JMU Foundation. The spring board meeting with be held on this date and will be followed by a celebration to thank all those individuals who helped make the Foundation a success in the first 50 years.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 pm.