What is an endowment?
An Endowment Fund is a fund that will exist in perpetuity with its principal maintained intact and invested to create a source of income from which grant distributions are controlled by a spending policy. Our goal is to raise $25,000 as the principal; we estimate that approximately $1,200 will be available for grants annually.

Why not just give money to the school?
Grants from The Titan Excellence Fund will be distributed through a small grant process, with an advisory committee comprised of students, teachers, and community members recommending the programs and needs that will receive grants. This means that donors to the fund can be assured that the support they provide through the Titan Excellence Fund is to programs with real merit.
 

In addition, any money donated to the school itself is entirely expendable. In the case of endowments, the principal amount cannot be spent. Therefore, your dollars will forever impact the school, whereas a separate donation may eventually be expended entirely.

Who will administer the fund?
The Titan Excellence Fund will be a component Endowment Fund of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. The Community Foundation will acknowledge all gifts, provide investment management and other services, and will award grants to the programs recommended by the Titan Excellence Fund Advisory Committee and approved the Community Foundation Board.

How long is the Campaign for the Titan Excellence Fund?
We anticipate the campaign reaching $25,000 by January 2009. 

What are the Three Core Constituencies?
Teachers, Community Members, and Parents are the core constituencies to this campaign. In the early planning stages we decided to delay a focus on alumni outreach, realizing that the earliest
West graduates are 5-6 years out of college and probably still paying off student loans.

Why not do this for TCAPS? Or Central?
Though we see the value an endowment for the entire school district could provide, we truly believe that people feel more connected to their specific high school than to TCAPS – which means people are more willing to give to TC West than TCAPS as a whole. We also believe that we can have the most impact by having students, staff, and community members that are passionate about TC West play a role in deciding how grants funds to benefit TC West are awarded. With respect to Central, we would love to support efforts to do the same thing for them as we are doing for West, though we see there being a larger need at TC West for community involvement. TCC has been around for a long time and has a large list of involved alumni (who are now community members) – something TC West simply hasn’t had time to build. This is our effort to start that involvement.

Who Supports this Campaign?
We are supported by the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, who is the legal campaign sponsor, but also have friends in the MM Fisher Foundation, University of Michigan Office of University Development, and TC West Administration.

Who can get involved?
This campaign is only going to be successful if we have the support of the entire community. We want to reach out to everyone in order to spread the word of the campaign and our goals for a unified community and school. 

Who are the Blue Titans?
We are four students at the University of Michigan who are dedicated to the construction of the Titan Excellence Fund. We provide the administrative support for the early-level engagement efforts of the Campaign Leadership Board, develop overall campaign strategy, and help conduct late-level engagement.

Who/What will be eligible for Titan Excellence Fund Grants?
Students, teachers and faculty members will be eligible to apply for a grant from the Titan Excellence Fund. We see grants being awarded based upon their contribution to the TC West community, though wish to leave much up to the decisions of the Titan Excellence Fund Advisory Board to the Community Foundation. 

Who will decide which grants are paid out of the Titan Excellence Fund?
An advisory committee of teachers, community members and students will meet annually or biannually to review grant proposals and recommend grant recipients. All grant recommendations are approved by the Community Foundation Board.