Cosmos Club Foundation Report for 2015
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. With sadness and immense gratitude the Foundation
received a gift from Jeanne Rosenthal in memory of her late husband
Joseph K. McLaughlin who was a trustee of the Foundation. In
calendar year 2014 the Foundation received contributions from
216 individuals and institutions; we are grateful for each and every
donation.
The McGovern Award in Science was presented to Henry
Petroski on November 3, 2014, in recognition of his manifold
accomplishments in science and engineering. On January 12, 2015,
Gail Kern Paster received the McGovern award in the humanities in
recognition of her major contributions to Shakespeare studies. Both
gave talks that were notable for their breadth, insight, and humor. As
always, the McGovern award programs were well attended by Club
members, their guests, and members of the public, who participated
in lively question and answer sessions.
The Cosmos Club Award, funded by the Foundation, was
presented to Alice Rivlin on April 21, 2014; as always, the occasion
was one of intellectual stimulation and stimulating company.
The Cosmos Scholars program flourished once again under the
sterling leadership of Trustees Jean Federico, Joan Challinor, Ann
Sheffield and Priestley Toulmin. The 228 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 and made 27 grants. Since its inception the program has
supported 352 graduate students and allocated over $623,000 to their
efforts.
The annual Scholars dinner was well attended by more than
100 Club members and guests, current and former Cosmos
Scholars, faculty mentors and university officials. The students’ oral
presentations of research results made possible by the research grants
were notable for the quality which set a new standard of excellence.
The professional archivist hired to bring order to our paper
records has nearly completed her work, and the process of digitizing
the material will be completed by the time you read this report.
The Club has been watching our progress and hired our archivist.
The Trustees are continuing to study how to proceed to archive the
voluminous electronic records and emails produced during the last
two decades.
The Foundation’s financial position is fully shown on the IRS
form 990, a public document. Investment income was $70,511, far
short of the $113,452 of expenses, so the Foundation really needs
your continued support, particularly in this period of low interest
rates. As the form 990 shows that only 11% of the expenditure (23%
if archiving is included) went to management and general expenses such as accounting and insurance, you can be confident that your
contributions are supporting our programs.
2014 Annual Report of the CCF + 2015 Grants in dollars
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Contributions | 95,520 | 122,525 | 155,370 | 123,500 |
Dividends and interest | 33,926 | 36,740 | 44,638 | 70,511 |
Investment appreciation | (6,396) | 139,334 | 310,694 | 89,986 |
Scholars' grants | 45,001 | 42,750 | 49,955 | 62,210 | 74,535 |
Awards, other expenses | 34,790 | 27,216 | 26,493 | 51,242 |
Assets at year-end | 1,577,334 | 1,805,968 | 2,240,222 | 2,410,767 |
Gerald B. Kauvar, Chair
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