Cosmos Club Foundation Report for 2014

The Cosmos Club Foundation’s three hallmark efforts continue to thrive thanks to the most welcome and important generosity of Club members and friends. The Trustees and Advisors once again are profoundly grateful to the McGovern Foundation and the Shields Foundation for their continuing and exceptional gifts to the Foundation. A gift by Gary Nordlinger in honor of his uncle, Gerson Nordlinger, enabled the Foundation to add a named grant in the arts and humanities to the Cosmos Scholars program. The Trustees also voted to name a grant in biomedical science for Joseph K. McLaughlin in recognition of his generous and continuing support for the goals of the Foundation. In calendar year 2013 the Foundation received contributions from 200 members of the Cosmos Club; we are grateful for each and every donation.

The McGovern Award in Science was presented to Harold Varmus on November 18, 2013 in recognition of his insights into the genetics of cancer cells that have led to important developments in the treatment of disease in patients.

Christoph Eschenbach received the McGovern Award in Arts and Humanities on February 5, 2014, for enriching the world of music as conductor, soloist, music director and mentor. Both programs were attended by a full house of Club members and members of the public, who participated in lively question and answer sessions after Harold Varmus’ informative and witty talk and Deborah Lamberton’s splendid interview of Maestro Eschenbach.

Author David McCullough and economist Alice Rivilin each received the Cosmos Club Award, the stipend and citation for which is provided by the Cosmos Club Foundation. Club members and their guests were educated and entertained by these two splendid additions to the distinguished roster of awardees.

The Cosmos Scholars program flourished once again under the sterling leadership of Trustees Ann Sheffield and Priestley Toulmin. The 185 applications for grants in aid were markedly superior this year. For this reason, and thanks to the generosity of our donors, we were able to increase the amount awarded even though the number of awards remained the same (26) as the previous year. Since its inception the program has supported 325 graduate students and allocated almost $550,000 to their efforts.

The annual Scholars Dinner was well attended by 101 Club members and guests, current and former Cosmos Scholars, faculty mentors and university officials. The student presentations of research results made possible by the scholarships were notable for the quality of their efforts and the variety of topics studed.

The Foundation engaged a professional archivist to bring order to our paper records, which date from 1967. As that project nears completion the Trustees are contemplating how to proceed to archive the voluminous electronic records and e-mails produced during the last two decades.

The Foundation’s financial position is fully shown on the IRS Form 990, a public document. As the Form 990 shows that only 13.4 percent of the expenditure went to management and general expenses such as accounting and insurance, you can be confident that your contributions are supporting our three programs.

Cosmos Club Foundation year-end financial results in dollars

Gerald B. Kauvar, Chair