By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Ten years after Sitka Fine Arts Camp “accepted the keys” to the Sheldon Jackson campus, the organization today announced the start of a new chapter: an endowment and a $1 million gift to kick off the effort.
“It’s really to help make our organization more resilient and more able to react to opportunities and adverse situations,” said SFAC Director Roger Schmidt.
The endowment is intended to provide a steady income for the camp to be used on operations, which include building repairs and scholarships.
The announcement of the endowment and a $1 million gift from the Skaggs Foundation comes a few days after the 10th anniversary of the day that the Sheldon Jackson Board of Trustees gave the campus to Alaska Arts Southeast, the parent organization of SFAC.
Schmidt noted the investment by individuals and organizations of some $8 million as well as tens of thousands of volunteer hours to restore and maintain the campus.
“When we set up the endowment we wanted to make sure it’s there to serve the camp, in a way that’s most beneficial,” Schmidt said. Noting the progress reached through funds and hours donated by the community and others over the years, he said, “This really ... has been our way to protect and preserve the investment of the community.”
Schmidt said the challenges of the past year have brought home the need to add a layer of resiliency and flexibility to the organization. After the pandemic hit last year, SFAC made the tough call to cancel camp, which is the flagship program of the organization. The decision cost the organization just under $1 million in revenue, and forced staff layoffs.
“The pandemic drives home how important it is to have things like an endowment to protect an organization from the ups and downs of things that can’t be controlled,” Schmidt said.
Sam Skaggs has been a family friend and mentor to Schmidt since Schmidt was young. The Skaggs foundation over the years has provided grants for projects involving kids with disabilities, arts and music, and conservation. Skaggs has managed the foundation since 1978. Skaggs in his professional life has been a professional investment adviser for 30 years.
Schmidt said Skaggs was one of the first people he called when the opportunity arose for the Fine Arts Camp to accept the gift of the campus from the Sheldon Jackson College Board of Trustees. Skaggs helped walk Schmidt through the various questions of why it was a bad idea, and “if it’s a good idea, how do we make it work.”
Sam Skaggs (Photo provided)
“We’ve been working side by side since day 1,” Schmidt said. While Skaggs agreed with him that the campus came with numerous challenges it was also a “once in a lifetime opportunity,” Schmidt said.
Skaggs, who moved here from Juneau five years ago, has other connections to camp. His three kids attended middle and high school camps starting in 1999, and Skaggs said he could see how camp was an important part of helping his kids grow into whom they would become.
He joined the board soon after AAS took ownership and currently serves as president.
Skaggs also will serve on the separate endowment board, along with Schmidt, Lauren Allen, Stan Barge, and Scott Davis, of Seattle. All have been involved in various volunteer efforts at SFAC.
“From the beginning (Skaggs) has been believing in what we do, what I do. That’s really important,” said Schmidt, who’s been executive director for 21 years. “With this gift I feel more responsibility toward ensuring growing on the success of our mission, and its survival in perpetuity. His family legacy is with us now.”
Skaggs said he’s been talking to Schmidt and others at the camp for about three years about starting an endowment. The Skaggs Foundation was started by Sam’s grandfather, M.B. Skaggs, in 1965.
The SFAC Endowment will be a standalone beneficiary organization that will invest donated funds with the sole mission of helping support the organization’s operating costs.
Starting with $1 million from the Skaggs Foundation, the Endowment board hopes to raise $5 million. (With the gift to kick off the SFAC Endowment effort, Sam closed the Skaggs Foundation.)
Skaggs said the new SFAC Endowment will be similar in purpose to those for universities, hospitals and other nonprofit organizations.
“Organizations that are successful over the long term, they all have an endowment ... to ensure the future of the organization,” Skaggs said. “We have an organization that’s been going for over 40 years, 10 years ago we were given the campus, and the people of Sitka have proven it’s important to them. That’s enough for me. I’m convinced that Sitka is convinced, to keeping this campus going.”
An endowment is created with an eye toward the long term, and helps add “flexibility and resiliency” to an organization, Skaggs said. Individuals can donate cash or stock to the endowment, or make bequests in their wills.
“The idea is to get money in over time, grow the money through investing and constantly give out a certain amount every year for operations,” Skaggs said. Endowments generally help “build flexibility and resiliency.”
“The flexibility of having an income stream from an endowment is so powerful when you’re writing your annual budget every year,” he said. “So much effort goes into raising money, writing grants – all that takes a lot of energy, a lot of effort. Here you have a vessel that’s kicking out income every year and that you can count on. It adds versatility in your budget planning and it builds overall resiliency in your organization.”
He said with a $5 million endowment, and a draw of 4.5 to 5 percent annually, the fund has the potential to pay out $200,000 a year - or 10 percent of the total SFAC budget.
“That’s quite a dent,” Skaggs said.
Another longtime benefactor, Carol Odess, has committed to giving $1 million from the John S. and Carol S. Odess Charitable Foundation to the new endowment, when she dies. The Odess foundation generally gives $10,000 to $15,000 a year to the camp, depending on the rolling average earnings of foundation investments. Odess divides her time between here and Birmingham, Alabama.
Schmidt said receiving gifts and commitments for gifts has been a “humbling experience,” since he feels it’s an expression of trust in the camp and the mission in the long-term.
“It’s such a lot of responsibility,” Schmidt said.
The Sitka Fine Arts Camp runs nine weeks of summer camps every year, drawing close to 1,000 campers. In addition, SFAC manages the Hames Center and the Performing Arts Center, for the school district, and offers year round arts programs.
Donations can be made at:
https://www.fineartscamp.org/donate.html
Those with questions may call Schmidt at 747-3085.
