Kresge grant means $2.4M match for YSU

By Harold Gwin

YOUNGSTOWN — The Kresge Foundation has awarded Youngstown State University a $1.2 million grant to help build a new business college building, but the university has to do a little fundraising before it gets the money.

President David C. Sweet said the money is coming in the form of a “challenge grant” that requires YSU to raise $2.4 million for the Williamson College of Business Administration project to secure the Kresge assistance.

“This grant will help give us the push needed to put the fundraising campaign for the new building over the top,” Sweet said, as he announced the award Thursday.

“But, just as important, this grant is the endorsement of a respected, world-renowned foundation. It’s a distinction that is sought by thousands of educational institutions across the country,” he said.

This is the second Kresge grant to the university in just five years. The foundation donated $600,000 to help finance the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center in 2003.

YSU first approached the foundation with a request for a $900,000 grant, but the foundation was so impressed with the project that it suggested bumping the request up to $1 million, said George McCloud, YSU vice president for university advancement.

When the package was voted on by the Kresge Foundation board, that body increased the award to $1.2 million, an indication that it believes in what YSU is doing, McCloud said.

The new Williamson building has a price tag estimated at $34.3 million.

Of that total, about $20 million is expected to come from a bond issue the university intends to borrow in early 2009. The university wants to raise $16 million more from private contributions and has secured about $12.4 million so far.

Once it raises an additional $2.4 million, the Kresge grant will kick in, Sweet said.

Betty Jo Licata, Williamson dean, said the challenge grant is designed to stimulate additional philanthropic giving, and the university is ready to launch a broad-based campaign to get the $2.4 million it needs to secure the grant.

Sweet said YSU’s proposal embraces the Kresge Foundation’s three key parameters to secure funds:

UInvest in institutions committed to diversity (YSU’s student population diversity has grown by 70 percent over the last decade, he said.)

UInvest in environmentally friendly buildings (YSU’s new facility is designed to be certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design as a green building.)

UInvest in projects to revitalize urban cores (The business college will provide a stronger link to the downtown business district, he said.).

The money will officially be a part of YSU’s ongoing capital campaign.

Tony Lariccia, campaign chairman, said the original goal was $43 million but YSU has already raised $48.2 million with six months left in the fund drive.

That’s an exceptional achievement “during the worst economic times I’ve ever seen,” he said, praising Sweet’s leadership of the university.

gwin@vindy.com