News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Alpena Community College Foundation President Tim Kuehnlein is seen writing down ideas from the ACC board of trustees and ACC Foundation members in their joint meeting on Thursday.

ALPENA — The Alpena Community College board of trustees and the ACC Foundation board had a joint meeting Thursday morning, discussing foundation funds–particularly the lack of flexibility in how they can be spent–and opportunities for the future.

ACC Foundation President Tim Kuehnlein broke down and organized the foundation funds in a spreadsheet and presented it to the board of trustees and the foundation board.

The foundation has $12.5 million in total funding in several categories. There is $7 million in designated scholarships, almost $2.5 million in unrestricted operations, and $3 million in less designated scholarships and unrestricted operations.

Designated scholarships are restricted in the way they can be used, often by the donor’s wishes. Unrestricted operations funds can be used in a variety of ways.

The spendable portion of the foundation’s endowed funds is 5%. Endowed funds come from a donation where the principal gift is invested, and only the income from that investment is spent to ensure a continuous source of financial support.

The foundation and board of trustees took time during their meeting on Thursday to brainstorm answers to five prompts regarding the foundation funds and their use in the future.

The first prompt asked the group to identify what stands out to them from the foundation fund overview spreadsheet.

They noted the lack of flexibility of how the foundation’s funds can be spent in many of the endowments and donations. Things that used to be important are not as important anymore but money is still committed to those causes.

Foundation Member Erin Olsen said she thought it was important to see all the funds laid out and that work needs to be done to rename some of them. She added that the funds overview is helping everyone realize what the foundation has out there to spend and in what areas and that understaffing at the foundation office has caused some organization and long-term goals to slip through the cracks.

The second prompt was where does the foundation and trustees see the greatest needs at the college that matches or maybe doesn’t match funding and how well do current foundation resources match those needs?

The group noted that student mental health is not getting enough funding and that should be revisited. They also saw holes in spending on housing and technology, and the need for a student activity center was noted.

“We have money, it’s not flexible like we said in the first one, because we could spend it on these things if we had flexibility in spending,” Foundation Member Jackie Krawczak said.

The third prompt addressed opportunities that the group sees for strengthening, expanding, or refocusing foundation support to meet immediate needs and/or strategic goals, and whether there are specific student or program needs, facilities or capital campaign opportunities, or donor engagement possibilities.

One focus mentioned was how they can do a better job disseminating information about the college for potential donors to see, and using mediums that young alumni would be more likely to connect with.

The foundation and trustees also discussed focusing on building trust so that donors will tick the box to use funds in the area of greatest need, which would increase the amount of flexible funding.

The fourth question was what gaps or blind spots appear in the current picture of the foundation’s funds and what is missing from fund categories?

There’s a lack of information in the alumni database that if addressed could provide more funding opportunities, Olsen said.

Kuehnlein stated that younger people do not approach philanthropy in the same way older generations do. He added that it might be better to emphasize smaller donations from a wider spread of people and that understaffing in the foundation office is limiting the relationships with donors.

The last prompt that the foundation and trustees answered was where should the foundation consider placing emphasis for the next three to five years?

The group noted, again, that getting the alumni database organized would allow the foundation to make targeted donation campaigns towards alumni. Other goals included updating the Charles R. Donnelly Natural Resources Center, expanding funding campaigns to farther out areas like Oscoda, and creating awareness for legacy funds.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.