By Jason Dooley, jdooley@bgdailynews.com -- 270-781-1700

Bowling Green Technical College will create a new foundation to oversee the college's endowment after the completion of the on-going capital campaign.

The college is in the early stages of developing by-laws and creating the foundation, which will be an independent body similar to Western Kentucky University's College Heights Foundation.

The college began proceedings to create a similar foundation several years ago, but it has been largely dormant, said Tim Burcham, vice president and executive director of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System Foundation, a similar body that works with the entire KCTCS system, including Bowling Green Tech.

Creating a new foundation to replace the extant but non-functional one will be a better option for the school at this point, Burcham told the college's board of directors Thursday.

"We think that would be a better option for you than trying to revamp the foundation that exists," he said. "By creating a new one, you can ensure it's set up according to all the KCTCS guidelines." KCTCS has a contract with the Common Fund, a not-for-profit investment group that oversees endowment funds for many of the nation's colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale and Duke universities, Burcham said.

By cooperating with that program through KCTCS, Bowling Green Tech will be able to minimize expenses, since the Common Fund charges for oversight of endowments based on the total money invested, and so Bowling Green Tech, as part of the KCTCS system, would be able to aggregate its endowment funds with the $16 million on deposit with the fund for the system as a whole, he said.

"It's the best deal we can come up with, and the Common Fund has bent over backwards to accommodate KCTCS to maximize the value of every single dollar given to us towards our endowment," Burcham said. Having a foundation can be an advantage for colleges in acquiring private funds, since many donors feel more comfortable donating their money when such a mechanism is in place, he said.

"For some donors, they are quite comfortable giving it directly to the college; some donors want to see it go directly to a foundation established by the college; while still others want it to go to the system's foundation," Burcham said. "Our goal is to provide the largest number of options so that donor will make whatever gift they want to in whichever manner they choose."

Bowling Green Tech board chairman Mike Harris, who also serves on the board of directors for the KCTCS system, thanked Burcham for his presentation and for his willingness to help the college as it moves forward with its plan.

"I've only been on the KCTCS board a short time, but I've learned a lot, and I'm very impressed with the way they conduct their business," Harris said. "I think that's where we need to take the discussion of the foundation."

Bowling Green Tech staff member Iris Dotson also presented a draft of the school's five-year strategic plan to the board at Thursday's meeting.

The plan outlines three primary goals for the college between now and 2009, including improving its internal and external image, enhancing advertising efforts and obtaining private funding from individuals, corporations and foundations.

The plan is nearly complete and will soon go for professional printing, the result of several months work, said Dotson, who served as the college's project coordinator.

"We know it still needs some work but we wanted to have it ready for the board meeting so you could give us some more input before we produce the final document," she told the board. "We feel like this document will provide a good outline for the college over the next five years to reach our goals."