Jack and Joyce Starrett, both '45, didn't realize all they'd accomplished when they recently added $579,080 to their charitable trust with The Whitworth Foundation.
They knew the trust would provide an immediate tax benefit, income for their lifetimes as well as 20 years beyond for their children, and ultimately a significant gift to the Whitworth endowment. They also knew it pushed their total lifetime giving to the college over $1 million, an important milestone for Joyce, whose father, Frank Warren, was president of Whitworth from 1940 to 1963.
"I remember my dad was always envious of other schools with large endowments and wished ours would get to $1 million," Joyce says. "So it was a thrill for us to reach that milestone, even though the college's endowment is well beyond it now."
What the Starretts may not have realized is how gifts like theirs support the college's strategic goal to moderate undergraduate enrollment growth and preserve the quality of the Whitworth educational experience.
The strategic plan seeks 5 percent annual enrollment increases for graduate and adult-education programs, which have room for expansion. However, the plan calls for full-time undergraduate enrollment growth to slow from an average of 3.5 percent over the past five years to 2 percent over the next five.
This goal of controlling growth contributed to the college enrolling 40 fewer new students this year and an associated loss of about $570,000 in tuition revenue. Whitworth is targeting increased endowment income to help offset the lost tuition revenue. Over the past 20 years, Whitworth's endowment has grown from about $9 million to $65.9 million, though it still lags behind some of the college's key competitors. The endowment has earned average annual returns of 10 percent over the last decade, but, based on board policy to spur growth, the college spends only 4.5 percent of the fund.
So, a $1 million addition to the endowment investment pool can generate about $45,000 of income every year to underwrite college operations. That income may be used to cover the average package of scholarship aid (the largest segment of the budget) for five students, three months of benefits for the college's employees, or about a week's worth of utilities and insurance expenses. This amount could also offset the net tuition revenue of about three additional students.
The Starretts didn't know these details when they made their gifts, but they are pleased to be preserving Whitworth's distinctive mission.
"We feel like we're supporting the Lord's work through what the students who go out from the college accomplish in the world," Jack says. "We feel blessed to be able to do this."
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