Thanks guys for all this gum-shoe work.
I also do not want to denigrate the Foundation and all they do. Am glad they
exist. So this is off the record… But, with our TAMU Hispanic Network, we
learned the F was not always our friend, not easy to work with and pretty
controlling. As Bill has observed, lots of overhead… they were very territorial
about our donors and any new donor prospects we drummed up. Didn’t share info
in a collaborative way, but I understand reasons why. Not a criticism, just an
observation. We eventually kept our own accounts and regional Hispanic Aggie
groups are free to raise money and give it away by total local control.
Basically, we had lots of challenges in the beginning, with the various
bureaucracies in the systems, not just the F., the AFS was also a challenge to
navigate. They opposed our formation at first, now we are an official sub-set
of AFS.
I would be just as happy to donate money into our own, managed fund, with or
without "on campus” officialdom, and channel as much as we can to BQ cadets.
But, I will support the collective will of our group.
Edward Retta
crossculturecommunications.com
linkedin.com/in/edwardretta/
+ 1 214 394 3000 (GMT - 6)
world phone 44 772 543 6501
eretta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jan 13, 2021, at 10:13 AM, DANNY POPHIN <danpophin@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I have to agree with Bill's assessment. This seems to be a hefty fee for
what we are trying to accomplish here. And if we are restricted to only
giving a scholarship/gift to a BQ, the 4% on the gain for the year is not
much.
Dan
From:
fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
on behalf of Bill Schwennsen <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2021 11:08 AM
To:
fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977] Re: Memorial Fund
Dean, thanks for sending the PDF. Here's how I see it:
The 5% "gift tax" is taken from the earnings on the gift, not from the
principal itself. This "tax" is taken, in our case, after the total of gifts
to our account meets or exceeds $25,000. Since the tax at 5% is more than
the annual scholarship payout of 4%, you can surmise that, once we meet the
$25K goal, it will still be 18 months, to maybe 2 years, before the first
scholarship disbursement is actually made. The faster we get to, or exceed,
the $25K minimum threshold, the sooner that we can start chipping away at
that "gift tax', get that satisfied, and start the clock on accumulating
enough earnings in the account to actually pay a scholarship.
If the Class will allow me an opinion here.... the Foundation does a great
job, but this 5% tax they put on gifts can be (and has been with some Aggies
I know) a deterrent for some potential donors. They are professional fund
raisers, and employ professional money managers (either directly or by
contract). That's a lot of overhead to cover. The 1% annual expense fee is
supposed to cover year-to-year operating expenses, and I'm sure it does...
but that begs the question of what the 5% gift tax is used for. I don't
know... I could speculate but I won't. I'm not in any way downing the
Foundation here, but we're trying to raise what is, for them, a pretty modest
amount of money and I think we need to make sure we as a Class are happy with
whatever arrangements are made.
Those of you who attended the 125 year BQ reunion in '19 might have heard the
TABA Prez at the time talk about the TABA establishing their own fund to
throw off income that could be used for scholarships for the Band, or
possibly other purposes benefitting the FTAB. The TABA runs their money
through the Corps of Cadets Association (CCA).. The CCA manages the TABA's
demand accounts for them. Although the CCA has overhead expenses also, they
do NOT charge any sort of "gift tax" that I'm aware of. I believe that Rick
Ashley and Tom Henry are both in TABA leadership positions; it might be worth
reaching out to them to see if the TABA/CCA have a vehicle that we might use
in establishing our account and what the details are. Again, I'm not trying
to pit one organization against the other (TABA/CCA vs Foundation), I'm just
trying to point out that their might be another avenue worth checking out
before we all start writing checks.
Knowledge is power, and also usually makes for happy donors (and investors).
I hope all of you are well and are managing to avoid the Covid.
BSch
-----Original Message-----
From: Dean B <canyonag77@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, Jan 13, 2021 9:45 am
Subject: [fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977] Re: Memorial Fund
You finance whizzes can read the PDF and correct me, but to give my reading
of the Foundation's policy:
The Foundation does not take money from the donation principal.
They collect a one-time fee equal to 5% of the donation, they collect that
from the gains on the donation.
They collect a yearly management fee of 1%, again from the gains, not from
the endowment principal.
The award to the recipient is 4% of the gain on the account. I'm not sure if
gains in excess of the 4% award and 1% fee go back into "our" account.
From:
fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
on behalf of Dean B <canyonag77@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2021 9:09 AM
To:
fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [fighting_texas_aggie_band_class_of_1977] Re: Memorial Fund
You are correct, Bill.
https://cdn.txamfoundation.com/How%20to%20give/The%20Gift%20Process/EXHIBIT_A_Effective_7-1-2020.pdf
