Overland Park ? The tide appears to have changed for the Kansas University Endowment Association.

After three years of market struggles, the endowment’s value grew 15.6 percent during the fiscal year ending June 30, officials announced Friday during a board of trustees meeting at the Edwards Campus. The association’s total assets also topped $1 billion for the first time.

“You live through those couple years of drops — three years, really — and as we looked at those we were scared,” said Frank Becker, the board’s chairman. “It was, ‘Where are we going?’ and ‘Will it be bad forever?’ Now we’re seeing a turnaround. It makes everybody feel better when the market goes up.”

The value of endowed funds held by the association increased from $734.5 million to $849.3 million last year, but that remains less than the endowment’s value before the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the economic slump that followed. In 2000, the endowment was valued at $855.5 million.

The total audited value of the association’s assets was $1.03 billion as of June 30. That’s up 16.2 percent from last year.

Total market value, including estimated market values for real estate, is $1.16 billion, up 12.6 percent from a year ago.

The endowment’s value declined 14.4 percent between 2000 and 2002, and the total assets declined 6.8 percent during that time.

Jeff Davis, senior vice president and treasurer, attributed the large returns in the past year to the same factors that caused the decline the previous years. The association consistently makes higher-than-average equity investments, he said.

Chancellors Club scholars, freshmen Rebecca Watts, of Omaha, Neb., center left, and Crystal Arrowsmith, of Sedgwick, visit with Joan Dibble, far left, and Sheri Hauck, far right. The freshmen were among the 16 Kansas University Chancellors Club Scholars recognized Friday at the Kansas Union Ballroom. The Chancellors Club is the major-donor organization of the KU Endowment Association, which held its annual meeting earlier Friday.

“Periodically you’ll really get rewarded for that,” he said. “You have to be willing to take some hits. Over time you’ll get rewarded more than you get punished.”

The large increases are, in part, spurred by the “KU First: Invest in Excellence” capital campaign that is in its final year. The campaign has raised $578 million toward its new goal of $600 million by the end of the year. The previous goal of $500 million was surpassed late last year.

Other details from Friday’s report:

6News video: KU Endowment looking good (10-08-04) Five new trustees added to Endowment Association’s board (10-09-04)

• Donors made $83 million in gifts and pledges in the last fiscal year, the second-highest total in university history and a 28 percent increase over 2003. The top total was $92 million in 2001, which included a $42 million pledge from the Hall Family Foundation.

• The Endowment Association contributed $76.6 million to KU last year, down from $85.1 million the previous year. Dale Seuferling, president and CEO, said the 2003 figures spiked because of a surge in campus building projects.
• The number of endowment accounts affected by the Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act has decreased from 466 on June 30, 2003, to 278 on June 30, 2004. Those funds have dropped below their original value, meaning their payouts are severely restricted.

The KU First campaign may end this year, but Seuferling said he wasn’t expecting a large drop-off in donations in the upcoming years.

“What a campaign like that does is, it establishes a higher platform for the future,” he said. “We’ll have a higher level of expectation for the staff in terms of fund-raising, and a higher expectation among donors. Going forward, that creates momentum for a higher level of engagement for fund-raising.”