An Undergraduate Council of Students initiative to have the University raise an endowment for the Student Activities Fund will go forward, one of Brown's top fundraisers said Tuesday, though increased stress on donors is likely to slow the project.
The plan, which would seek to ultimately eliminate the $164 fee all students currently pay into the fund, was approved in December, said Vice President for Development Kristin Davitt '88.
The University would need to raise between $17 and $21 million to completelyeliminate the fee, according to representatives from UCS and the Undergraduate Finance Board - a goal UFB Vice Chair Stefan Smith '09 said was "not happening any time soon."
But Davitt said the University would "love" to raise at least $100,000 - a minimum floor for endowments, she said - by the end of June.
The Council's Student Activities Committee initiated the proposal to create an endowment for the Student Activities Fund at the beginning of the fall semester, presenting the University with a report on the benefits of such a move.
The chair of the Council's Student Activities Committee, Ryan Lester '11, told The Herald last month that he was surprised by the plan's rapid progress. "My goal was that we would create this report last semester and ask for the money this semester," he said.
Davitt said she hopes to compile a list of potential donors in the next two months, although she said it was not a top priority.
"It's a little tricky in this economic environment to look for additional dollars," Davitt said, adding that the annual fund and financial aid expansion are requiring increased attention.
Lester said the possibility that the activities fund endowment might be put on the back burner given the University's other priorities was not a surprise. "It's not a setback in itself," he said this week. The project will "hopefully get the fundraising to raise the initial 100k," he said, "but we're not going to get much more help because of the economic situation."
In December, the Development Office was "more optimistic that we could find more (money)," Lester said. "In three months, if we (have not) gotten the initial hundred thousand, then, yeah, we'd be behind."
