The foundation maintains a list of university projects that need to be funded each year from unrestricted monies, including awards for faculty, staff and students. And we do telemarketing or direct mail fund-raising programs for each of the colleges every year, but those funds go directly to the specific colleges for use at the deans' discretion. Each year, I meet with the president, the provost and the deans' council to determine priorities for the next fiscal year. The individual deans have received requests from their department chairs, who have met with their respective faculty members to assess needs. I would encourage faculty and staff members to work closely with their department chairs to identify specific needs to be considered within this process.
Endowments are funds that are set aside in perpetuity.
Only the interest earned off these invested accounts can be used for income. Earlier this fall, some ISU students criticized the foundation for not providing more financial support to prevent a substantial tuition increase. We have no resources to do it, based on the fact that 5 percent or less of our total funds are unrestricted. I am sensitive to the students' questions as to why the foundation didn't step in. This database contains information on 180,000 alumni and friends of the institution, portions of which are accessible to university departments and colleges for official business.