Page 19 - 2024 November Report

INDIGENOUS ENDOWMENT SCHOOLS MEETING REPORT
October 4, 2024
ATTENDEES:
American Indian College Fund - Tammy Miller-Carlson College of Menominee Nation – Susan Waukau
Fort Lewis College – Steve Elias and Melissa Mount
Heritage University – David Wise
Native Forward Scholars Fund – Sara Barnett
Northern Arizona University - Pam Ramos
Northwest Indian College – Joal Galindo
Sinte Gleska University – Carole Gregg and Summer Zephier Scottsdale Community College – Damita Kaloostian
Turtle Mountain Community College – Tracy Azure
United Tribes Technical College – Robert Lawrence
Johnson Scholarship Foundation – Bobby Krause, Sherry Salway Black, Rick Williams, Sharon Wood, Lisa Loomis
Rick opened this afternoon meeting with a traditional prayer and a land acknowledgment for our presence on Salt River Pima land and of the importance of place when we gather.
Lisa led the room in self-introductions.
ENDOWMENT PROGRAM and REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Rick started the session with a history of the JSF endowment program. He pointed out that there is not just one JSF endowment agreement. The agreements differ according to the needs of the school at the time that particular endowment agreement was created. He asked how many in the room have actually read their school’s endowment agreement. Most had. Those who had not expressed that they will do so.
He shared that he works on annual audits of the programs with each representative and stressed the importance of their annual reports of each of their endowments. Rick would like to do site visits at each school every two years.
Rick told the schools that we share the information from their reports with our Board. He announced that JSF will no longer include the request for reporting data on their graduates, as we recognize that information has proved very difficult to obtain. However, we appreciate receiving “success stories” that we can share on our social media posts.
One difficulty for the Foundation has been that the reporting terms in the various agreements were also different. In an effort to make reporting easier for both the schools and the Foundation, all reports are now due June 30th. (This does not include the matching funds reports for those endowments still in the building stage.) There was much discussion about how the timing is tricky as it is the end of their fiscal year, and they still need to complete financials to provide accurate reports. This led to an agreement to change the reporting deadline to July 30 with a grace period of until August 15 to submit their reports.
Bobby reminded the schools that they can contact the JSF office with any questions or assist them with managing their endowments and the reporting process. We want to help them serve their students.
Education / A Powerful force for change Page 17