The foundation that manages endowment support for the University of South Alabama approved roughly $2 million in new contributions to the Mobile university during a June 5 board meeting, continuing a steady flow of funding for scholarships, faculty positions and campus programs.
The semi-annual disbursement, totaling just over $2 million, included $375,000 for the Whiddon Scholars Program, $110,000 for a faculty development fund, $133,400 for research graduate assistantships and $85,000 for a technology program fund. With this latest round, the foundation’s contributions to the university for the fiscal year ending June 30 reached roughly $4.5 million, similar to what it gave the previous fiscal year.
Assets Keep Growing
The foundation reported that its stock and equity holdings were valued at about $128 million in the first quarter of 2014, up from roughly $126.5 million at the end of 2013. That equity portfolio has grown nearly 13 percent since the same point the year before.
Overall, the foundation’s net assets stood at about $319.5 million as of the end of March, up from $317 million three months earlier and nearly $291 million a year prior, marking almost a 10 percent increase over twelve months.
A large share of that wealth comes from timberland. The foundation owns nearly 78,000 acres of timber property, appraised at more than $156 million, or roughly $2,006 per acre, a modest rise from an appraisal taken a few months earlier. Foundation officials said they expect timber prices to strengthen further this year as clear-cutting and thinning operations continue.
The foundation planned three timber sales during 2014. The first, held in April, drew ten bidders and generated more than $747,000 in sales. Hunting leases on the land brought in close to $466,000 for the year, while clear-cutting and thinning revenue totaled around $2.9 million over a ten-month stretch. Combined, the timber holdings make up roughly half of the foundation’s total net assets.
Board members also marked the retirement of the foundation’s longtime chief forester, who had overseen the timber program since 1997 and helped generate more than $136 million in revenue from the land over his tenure. A successor was named to take over the role at the end of June.
The University of South Alabama Foundation operates independently of the school itself, with a 21-member board overseeing an endowment that supports the roughly 15,000-student university.