There Must Be Money

[p. 70] The problems inherent in financing the University YMCA point up one of its weaknesses and one of its great strengths. The weakness consists in the ever present uncertainty about the funding of programs and the hiring of staff. The strength consists in independence and the necessity for thinking and doing so that the program can be sold to prospective givers.

From its inception, citizens of Illinois have given the University Y strong financial support. While this support was for many years understandably modest, and while financial conditions in the country have caused fluctuations in the amounts subscribed, the base has broadened and deepened with the years. Thousands of people have contributed to its support and hundreds of men and women have made substantial and continuing contributions. Former Y members and officers as they achieved success in business, have remembered. And with the passing of the years more and more women whose fathers or husbands or brothers were active in the Y have made gifts. In the preparation of this book some thought was given to listing all those who have given support. For several reasons the idea was abandoned, but chiefly because of the difficulty of compiling a complete list.

Ten years after the Y was organized its budget was only a few hundred dollars. Forty years later it was $40,000 and after that it continued to climb. For the calendar year 1972 it was nearly $120,000. During the early years Professor Parr and others stressed the desirability of creating an endowment, and an attempt was made in 1892. This attempt was not without success though the depression of 1893 stymied it. After the turn of the century an attempt was again made to create an endowment fund but the periodic need for better housing and the increasing cost of program and staff absorbed the funds which were raised even though the amount required for annual operation remained rather modest until the years of World War I. In 1905, for example, the budget was $3,700 out of which $1,000 went for house maintenance and $850 for salaries.

After Chief Wilson and Mic Coldwell joined the staff a vigorous effort to increase resources became an annual responsibility. Special brochures and invitations to give were published and distributed. The faculty of the University was [p. 71] canvassed thoroughly by teams made up of faculty members, and statements of appreciation were sought from University administrators, student leaders, local ministers and others. A solicitation brochure published in 1922 contained such statements from President Kinley, Dean Babcock, Dean Davenport, Dean Thompson, Dean Thomas Arkle Clark, Coach Bob Zuppke, the Student Colonel of the ROTC, and the captain of the track team.

The thoroughness with which the faculty was canvassed is illustrated by the letter which Comptroller Lloyd Morey, Chairman of the Faculty Division, sent to all members of the University faculty in October, 1925. He quoted a statement Harry Emerson Fosdick made during a recent visit to the campus, “Never in all my experience have I seen on a campus in America such a fine and effective cooperation between the various types of religious work.”—then added his own plaudits and reminded recipients of the letter that support of the Y is wholly voluntary. The budget for 1925-26, he explained, was $46,000, 40% of which would be contributed by friends outside the twin cities and University. The faculty was asked to subscribe the modest amount of $2,500, payable either “in cash or at as early a date as is convenient.” Solicitation of the faculty in this manner has been an annual event though the amount received from faculty has never been a substantial part of the budget.

Compared with the amounts given for other causes, the amounts contributed to the Y must have at times made its officers wonder where students and alumni placed their values. When a drive to build Memorial Stadium was launched in March, 1921, students over-subscribed their goal of $350,000 and there apparently was no problem in selling the memorial columns in the structure at $1,000 each—in return, it should be mentioned, for twenty seats at all games for ten years. That wasn’t a bad bargain. The Y could offer no counterpart though gifts for the dedication of rooms in the building have produced a sizeable addition to what otherwise would have been realized. At the time the last building campaign was under way in 1935, a special folder on “Bequests” was published, informing prospective donors about endowment possibilities, the purposes for which they could make a gift, and the manner in which it would be used.

The financial position of the Y was improved markedly during Chief Wilson’s tenure. By putting in the “overtime” which only a sincere and dedicated man would have, the Chief not only brought the building to fruition but he increased the annual budget, making more staff members and a larger program possible. He created a lasting interest and respect for the Y in many of the business leaders in Chicago and other cities, but particularly in Chicago, and laid much of the groundwork on which the success of succeeding secretaries and staff members was predicated.

Mic Coldwell was not by choice a fund raiser. His heart was in program and working with young men and it remained there regardless of the fact that for a dozen years, from 1944 to 1956, he was literally the financial support of the YMCA. Writing about this, Mic recalled that he had “spent over a quarter of a century coaching young men in the program phase of the UI YMCA work, just [p. 72] twelve years raising funds. My life work was in the field of program. That fulfilled my sense of mission which brought me into this ministry to faculty and students. I do not discount the importance of the hundreds of thousands of dollars I raised from some 5,000 to 10,000 personal interviews, but these pale into insignificance against sculpturing men’s lives through my ministry and program from 1918 to 1944.”

Mic pointed out that the problems involved were many—gaining access to people, finding and allocating travel time, competing for gift money in local communities, living down images sometimes created by publicity about the University. He developed a county letter system through which county committeemen wrote to prospective donors on behalf of the Y. This brought in many thousands of dollars. Mic stated that on “the hard anvil of experience in raising funds certain things were learned—that few citizens really understood the size of the University and the need for a UI YMCA to stress moral and spiritual values and that students belonged to the communities in which prospective donors lived.”

In Mic’s experience he found that the YMCA was attractive to prospects; he was seldom turned down. Before he took over the financial spot in 1944 he had been preceded by other secretaries, most of whom had enjoyed some success in raising funds for the Y—Grover J. Little, 1924-26; Cliff Hatfield, 1927-29; Frank West, 1930-35; and James Stafford, 1936. Howard Amerman and Philip Ross were also successful as money raisers. It was Mic’s sincerity and intense dedication to the program objectives of the Y coupled with his natural ability to approach and persuade which made him outstanding in this phase of the Y’s activities. In 1943, the year after Mic assumed the financial role, 470 persons gave $28,000. Ten years later, in 1953, more than 2,000 persons made gifts totaling $61,000.

The Champaign County Community Chest, predecessor to the present United Way, was begun in 1921 and the UI Y was one of the nine groups in the original organization. Howard Amerman was the first executive serving from 1932 to 1942. The Y has been deeply involved in its continuing fund raising work ever since.

In 1961 Don Grossman, formerly Director of the Scholarship Program for the University, now deceased and a long-time Y supporter, was hired to locate “lost” alumni and improve the Y’s mailing lists.

The largest single item in the Y’s budget is contributions from alumni and friends. In 1972 this was estimated at $40,000 or approximately one-third of the total budget. Building income, investment income and United Way constituted nearly one-half of the 1972 budget.

The Trustees

For many years the Y operated with two official bodies—a Board of Trustees, which held title to the property and managed the investments of the Association, and a Board of Directors, which had general supervision of the work of the Association and was charged with the responsibility of raising funds for current [p. 73] expenses and approving the annual budget. The third body, The Cabinet, composed of student officers and committee chairmen and the Y staff developed and carried out the Y’s program. The Cabinet also had a voice in the employment of staff.

The Board of Trustees was a large body composed of more than thirty members about half of whom were local and half from other cities in Illinois. It was composed of well known figures and businessmen who could be influential in raising funds. In 1930 the Y constitution was amended to eliminate the Board of Trustees and transfer its functions to the Board of Directors. This meant that the Board of Directors now had responsibility for augmenting and managing the endowment fund and for seeking major gifts.

Having suffered through the economic straits of the ’30s and undergone an expanded program to take care of veterans’ problems after World War II the feeling grew that some special body like the former Board of Trustees was needed to stimulate interest on behalf of the Y in the business community of the state. When Harold B. Ingalls joined the staff as General Secretary in 1950, reestablishment of the Board of Trustees became one of his foremost objectives. In 1951 the Constitution was amended to provide for a Board of Trustees composed of nine members elected for five-year terms by the Board of Directors. Bylaws provide that the duties of the trustees are to plan for and supervise the procurement of gifts, to invest and conserve funds, to make income from invested funds available to the Association, and to advise and counsel the Board of Directors and officers of the Association on matters pertaining to its financial affairs.

Since 1951 the Constitution and Bylaws have been amended to provide for a larger number on the Board, not less than fifteen nor more than twenty-five. During the next year, in 1952, eight members of the Board of Trustees were appointed. Fred A. Poor was acting chairman; other members were Corliss D. Anderson, George R. Carr, John L. Franklin, Wayne Johnston, Herbert Lorber, Earl Schwemm, and Dean Emeritus Charles M. Thompson.

One of the first actions of the Trustees was to establish a million dollar endowment program. Another was to develop plans for a Henry E. Wilson memorial fund from which a memorial chapel could be built and a YMCA secretarial in-service training program initiated. The chapel was constructed and dedicated in 1953. The in-service training program did not materialize.

Later in the 1950s the Board of Trustees was expanded. New members included Julien Collins, Fred Ebersold, Leslie Worthington, Harry Bercher, and Joseph Mohr. A handsome twenty-three page brochure entitled “Living Investments” was published, explaining the work of the Y, inviting investment in the Y program, telling how gifts could be made and the purposes for which they would be used. The brochure listed some special needs for capital gifts—further development of the social recreation center, completion of the unfinished third floor, construction of a retreat cabin, air conditioning the building, and improving its heating and ventilating system.

In 1954 the Fred A. Poor Memorial established by the Trustees was [p. 74] dedicated. Following the death of Wayne A. Johnston who had served as Chairman of the Trustees from 1959 to 1967, the Board established a memorial fund in his honor. The purpose of the fund was to endow a chair for a director of leadership development. This has been partially fulfilled. Realizing that friendly relations with the University of Illinois alumni could benefit the YMCA, the Trustees instituted the practice of entertaining members of the University of Illinois Foundation at a breakfast when the annual meeting of the latter was held on the campus. At these breakfasts student officers and committee chairmen explained the ongoing programs of the Y. Over the years many other distinguished citizens of Illinois and the nation have served on the Board of Trustees. Among them have been Charles Shuman, William Browder, Derrick Brewster, Joseph Lanterman, Chester Davis, General Lafeton Whitney, William Carmichael, E. L. Simmons, James Wham, Kenney Williamson, Vernon Heath, Hjalmer Johnson, James Wheat, Charles Wham, Walter Straub, Ernie Lovejoy, Charles Stotz, Rexford Blazer, Oliver Troster, and Frank Seamans.

The Bailey Scholarships

Fred S. Bailey, a lifetime resident of Champaign, born in 1871 and for thirty years until his death in 1955 President of the Champaign National Bank, had a deeper interest than most people realized in the struggles of worthy young people to get a University education. By the terms of his will he left two-thirds of his estate (well over a million dollars) in trust, the income to be used for scholarships for worthy moral students, either graduates or undergraduates, in any field of study at the University of Illinois. Students were to be selected on the basis of moral character, intelligent leadership, scholarship, and financial need.

The University of Illinois YMCA was designated as the agency to administer the fund. M. L. Mosher, then a member of the YMCA Board, recalls that his gift created some difference of opinion among members of the Board and the staff of the Y. After all, the Y gained nothing financially and Pete Ingalls feared that it would be costly to administer the fund. M. L. recalls going to C. M. Thompson and talking about it. The latter was surprised that any question would be raised since the fund was for such a worthy cause. Currently Harold Colvin is director for the fund and is quite emphatic about what has been done for so many students. In 1972, fifteen years after income from the fund first became available, 130 students received $34,000 in scholarships. Annual awards range from $200 to $700 with the average about $350. By 1972 $450,000 had been expended on scholarships for 1,051 students.

Other Gifts

Speaking of the support which the Latzer-Kaeser families have given the Y, Harold Reinhart said: “The Latzers have given large sums of money over the years and have been most helpful at critical points in the history of the Association. [p. 75] Robert Latzer and his sister, Jennie Latzer Kaeser and her daughter, Marion Piper, have continued the support of their father and grandfather, respectively. Nearly half of the Endowment Fund was made possible from the Latzer family in Pet, Inc. common stock. Thomas Latzer, a Vice President of Pet, Inc., and nephew of Mrs. Kaeser, is presently on the YMCA Board of Trustees.”

Remarking about other donors and major gifts Harold said: “Some of the long time contributors to the UI YMCA in addition to the Latzers are, of course, Senator W. B. McKinley and Fred S. Bailey; also men like the Carrs, George and Robert; Fred A. Poor; Herbert Lorber; Robert Friend; Paul Galvin; Julien Collins; Corliss Anderson; Earl Schwemm; Vernon Henry; Henry Wurst; Vernon Heath; Leslie Worthington; Herman Krannert; W. B. Browder; Virgil Gunlock; Charles Van Gundy; Paul Seitz, Floyd Rusher; Ernest Michaels; M. R. Hanna and Albert Buehler.

“Several memorial fellowships or forums were established during the YMCA history. A Dean Leeper Memorial Secretaryship for Student Work was established in 1955 in memory of Leeper who as a fraternal secretary in Japan was killed in a typhoon. The student work secretaryship was established in Kyushu, Japan, with a Japanese as the secretary. The Meyer Bible Forum was established by Bertha Meyer Collins (Mrs. Julien) in 1964 in memory of her father, Adolph Meyer, to bring outstanding Biblical scholars for lectures to the YMCA membership and University community. It was discontinued in 1968. The Gunlock Memorial Fund operated in 1963-65 to bring lecturers to campus for a series of student and faculty forums.”

Carr Lounge, on the third floor, honors George R. Carr, “01 and his brother Robert F. Carr, ’93. Also on the third floor of the Y are the Fred A. Poor Memorial Library and the Richard E. Younggren Memorial Room. Fred Poor was Chairman of the Trustees. Younggren was Y President in 1938-39.

Hartwell Howard, a local philanthropist, donated a tract of land along the Sangamon River near Mahomet, Illinois where the YMCA, YWCA, and local church foundations have built a retreat known as Camp Howard. Late in 1968 the Trustees with the aid of Grover Little, formerly on the staff and later on the International Committee staff began planning for a renovation fund. In 1969 Mr. and Mrs. Herman C. Krannert of Indianapolis, long time friends and benefactors of the University of Illinois, made a gift of $25,000 contingent upon the Y raising $75,000. Two Trustees, E. L. Simmons and Vernon Heath made the trip to Indianapolis to make the successful appeal. The Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees responded with a concerted effort and produced the needed amount, all of which was earmarked for the renovation and repair of the building. A total of $124,000 was raised with the renovation and repair now being completed.

The Y is still working toward the million dollar endowment which has been its dream for a long time. An attractive folder, “Plans for Giving,” designed especially for the consideration of women who wish to memorialize members of their families explains four tax saving gift plans and encourages the establishment of trusts in favor of the Y.

[p. 76] The Y’s Indian for May, 1971, reported a significant development: “Ten recently graduated U. of I. alums in Chicago are aware of the great need for increasing the number of ‘young alum’ contributors to the U. of I. YMCA. They personally contacted 150 recent grads who were active in the YMCA during their student days. The contributions from ‘young alums’ are steadily growing each year and are increasingly important. Their efforts were highlighted at Homecoming 1970 when approximately 75 young alums, faculty members and students participated in a vigorous discussion with notables such as Chancellor Peltason and Howard Clement (U. of I. Trustee) concerning ‘What’s Happening at the U. of I.’”