01/13/17 Greg Powell, Executive Chairman of the Harold Alfond Foundation Board of Trustees
Posted by Erik Jorgensen
“To give away money is an easy matter and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it, how much, when, for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power, nor an easy matter.” That’s what Aristotle said about philanthropy and it was a point that was shared by Friday’s speaker, Greg Powell, who wrestles with these problems on a daily basis as Executive Chairman of the Harold Alfond Foundation Board of Trustees.
The Alfond Foundation was formed in the 1950’s with proceeds from the Dexter Shoe Company. Its current assets hover around $770 million and support about $40 million in annual grant making, plus a $7 million investment in their college challenge program, which provides a seed college savings account of $500 for every child born in Maine. With a firm belief that every dollar needs to count, the Foundation provides challenge grants to assure that grantee organizations have full buy-in.
Underpinning much of the Foundation’s work is the assertion that educational attainment is a key element of both family income and economic growth. This is why the Foundation has so generously underwritten facilities on Maine campuses, while also embarking on the ambitious “College Challenge.”
According to Powell there are several factors in play in Maine. Due to cost and other factors, not enough citizens get higher education. Only 40% of Maine high school seniors get an associate or bachelor degree, despite 60% of current jobs requiring them. In addition, the skilled work force is declining in Maine due to people leaving and aging out. There has been inadequate alignment between higher education and employers, with the additional problem that public higher ed has been constrained financially and has been slow to transform programs for relevancy and attractiveness to students.
The Foundation approaches higher education with two strategies. The first is its signature program, the College Challenge, aimed at making higher education more affordable. While every baby gets an account, the Foundation has adopted a broad definition of “college” covering “everything from Ivy League degrees to a welding certificate.” The first universal group of kids with these accounts is about to hit kindergarten this year and 70,000 Maine families now have these new accounts. Experience has shown that families with accounts have higher aspirations. Kids with college savings accounts of any size are 3 times as likely to go to college and 4 times as likely to graduate.
The other strategy used by the Foundation is its effort to unify public universities across the state. The system’s new program, the Maine Center for Professional Studies, is an aggregation of business, law, and public policy, and is emblematic of this approach. The hybrid school builds on the strengths of each component program, identifying new synergies in the development of a new type of professional degree. The Center will promote partnerships with business, legal, nonprofit and professional communities across Maine.
(Photo: President Laura Young, Gregory Powell, Levi Knapp - both from the Alfond Foundation - and Rusty Atwood.)