PIU Challenges for 2010 #6 - Finances

To meet the previous five challenges, especially the challenges of staffing and facilities, PIU will need to raise significant financial resources. In the beginning PIU was funded by three basic sources: Liebenzell Mission provided the starting capital to buy the property and build the original facilities; most of the staff and faculty were missionaries (Liebenzell or other organizations) who raised their own support or were financed by other organizations; and the remaining operational needs were funded by student tuition. All of these resources were a tremendous provision but, with these alone, the school was pretty much limited to covering its basic operational needs and there was very little for future growth. If PIU was to move forward to accomplish the vision that we believe God is calling us to do we needed to take steps to find the money that we believe God was raising up for us.

So last year we hired a fund raising consultant, Mickey Beckham who was recommended by TRACS, our accreditor. Mickey was excited about the potential of PIU to raise funds and he made the following recommendations which we have followed....

Private and Public Grants: PIU has hired a grant researcher and writer, Katherine Currie, to explore both private foundations and government grants for the school. Since our main constituency is Pacific islanders and over 90% of our students receive Title IV grants we are eligible for many other government grants. We have been able to finance our computer labs on the main campus and our various teaching sites with a public grant and are exploring others. We are also in the process of applying for several grants from private foundations to meet needs in our library, staffing and some smaller capital needs. Please be in prayer for us as we complete and submit  several applications on March 1st.

Rising Tide Annual Fund: Because one of our major goals at PIU is keeping tuition costs affordable for our islander students and providing them a way that they can complete their degrees without being saddled with debt, our tuition will never fully cover operational costs. In addition, as we expand to liberal arts and general education and attempt to increase local hires, we have many faculty and staff positions in the school that cannot be filled by missionaries. To provide the resources to bridge this gap we have begun the Rising Tide Annual Fund. The purpose of the Rising Tide fund is to provide the financial resources to fill essential faculty and staff positions, to enable us to provide scholarships for students, and to support student missions, academic and library  programs.Our goal is to raise $500,000 per year in annual pledged donations to this fund by finding 500 people or organizations that would be willing to donate an average of $1,000 per year (about $84 per month). We are excited that, since this program was launched in January of this year, we already have over $70,000 per year in pledges.

Capital Funds: The final phase of our fund raising program will be a capital fund to finance the expansion of the Guam campus detailed in my last post. The first phase of the capital program will be to raise enough funds to buy the adjoining 3.6 acres. We have an architect coming this summer to make a more detailed proposed building plan for development of the property. The property would then be developed in phases over the next 5 years or so as God provides the resources to build. We plan to finance this through a combination of grants and private donations.

We are confident that God will provide the money as it is needed to accomplish what He is calling us to do. If God is laying it on your heart to be part of the Rising Tide Fund or Capital Fund please send me an email at dowen@piu.edu or call me at 671-734-1812 and we can get you details and information about it or answer any questions you might have. We will soon have all the information available on the school web site at http://piu.edu. We are now able to take payments and donations by credit card and very soon will have a donation button on the web site. 

In some ways it is hard for me to talk about money. But I believe very much that what we are doing here is part of God's kingdom purpose and that any investment in PIU is an investment in the lives of our students and in what God is doing here in the Pacific. I also know that is something that pays off forever.