Public Service Fund: How Much is Enough?

With much fanfare and to great applause, Harvard officials announced the formation of a $ 1 million endowment in February, 1985 to help fund student involvement in community service activities. But now, as the first year of the program draws to a close, there are many questions in the public service community about how effectively the money was spent and how it will be used in the future.

When President Derek C. Bok announced the establishment of the fund last year, it was looked upon by the leaders of Harvard's burgeoning student volunteer force as initiating a new era in university aid for service activities manned by undergraduates. At the same time, Cambridge officials hoped the fund would foster a greater spirit of cooperation between town and gown, significantly increasing Harvard's role in support of community programs in need of funding.

But after a year, critics are asking if Harvard is really increasing its support for public service or just rerouting money it already had. In addition, campus social service agencies say, a large portion of this year's money was used for administrative expenses--not the direct program funding that was advertised last year.

New and Old Groups

"It is our goal," Bok said when he announced the fund last year, "to encourage every student in the college to consider seriously the opportunities for public service and to make such service a regular part of their lives." Income from the special fund would finance existing student volunteer groups as well as newly created service projects.

Campus observers say they expected the million-dollar endowment to generate $50,000 in funding annually for service programs. But the five-member committee set up by the university to disburse the funds only received $43,000 this fall to allocate to different programs. Of that money, only $40,125 has been given out this year, committee members say.

"The general perception was that $50,000 was what was to be available in grants," says Valerie A. Barton '86, the former president of Phillips Brooks House (PBH). Members of Harvard's best-known service agency say they want to know why all the promised money has not been distributed and how much will be dispersed next year.

"We all figured that with a $1 million endowment and Harvard's investment clout, that's how much it would be," says William H. Gump '85-86, a Quincy House resident who directs Harvard's Public Service Program (PSP). Funded entirely by the university, the four-year old agency is an umbrella organization that primarily links Cambridge youths with undergraduates.

Dean of the College Archie C. Epps III, a member of the distributing committee, confirms that "the $50,000 figure was batted around earlier on, but that's not the amount we received." Harvard's conservative investment policies account for the less-than-hoped for sum generated from the million dollar endowment, Epps says.

"We try to have money from endowments provide the same support for activitites over [a period of time]," says Thomas O'Brien, Harvard's vice-president for financial affairs.

The million dollars was invested along with Harvard's other endowment monies in a mutual fund. Committee Chair John B. Fox Jr., administrative dean for the graduate school of arts and sciences, says the criteria for doling out the funding was set by "a carefully calculuated formula" determined by faculty, administrators and financial personnel. Between four and five percent of an endowment's income is made available for distribution, and then is reinvested back into the original capital fund.

"This is designed to give programs the same real level of support over the long-haul," according to O'Brien. It also prevents unpredictable factors like inflation or interest rate fluctuations from diminishing the overall value of the fund's earnings.

O'Brien says that no one in the administration had approached him with the idea of investing the endowment money in ways which would have earned more money for programs that, in the words of Gump, are constantly "scrambling for funds."

These investment policies and the decision of the committee to hold on to $2875 in funds for use next year have confused and upset public service activists who were expecting more financial relief when Bok announced the creation of the fund.

"There are organizations on campus that need and can implement that money right now," PBH's Barton says.

CityStep Serious

Sabrina T. Peck '84, founder and director of CityStep, says that indifference on the part of the fund's administrators indicates that "they're not taking this thing seriously."

A dance-theater program designed to bring about 25 undergraduates into the Cambridge public school system to teach the performing arts, CityStep received $3500 of its $20,000-budget from the endowment. Because non-profit programs like CityStep are always in need of funds, she says, a few dollars added here and there "is the difference between crippling us and putting us on our feet."

Epps says that the fund's administrators withheld some funding because "the committeee is prudent, and didnt want to spend it all in one year."

Fox says that this fund could not be invested any differently than Harvard's other endowment funds. "You can't pick and choose between claimants" who say they are deserving of a little more than other investors, he adds. "You can make that argument about anything with equal force."

Fox also says that it was erroneous to believe that the endowment money was intended to facilitate new groups receiving university funding.

Acknowledging that much of the money from the new fund was going to support programs Harvard had previously supported, Fox says that the fund "will always be there" and will expedite fundraising for social service agencies by "by putting a large chunk of money in one place."

But Peck maintains that the fund "has inspired new communty service projects" nonetheless. If no new money is made available, she says "the proliferation of new groups will dwindle [each group's share] to a pittance."

There are also questions over whether money from this fund was earmarked for what are called direct services--paying for students who are actually working within the community--or to pay for support services which cover the administrative and clerical overhead of such programs.

In-House Bias?

The committee's single largest grant went to the Public Service Program, which Harvard set up in 1982 as an alternative avenue for student involvement in community affairs. More than $18,000 went to PSP, which sponsors the House and Neighborhood Development (HAND) program, primarily for personnel costs.

"Unfortunately, the bulk of our grant has gone to salary," Gump says. "It's a shame it has to be that way, but you need someone at a paid position to coordinate programs, and no department has picked us up into their budget."

"The fund itself is a great idea," he says. "By and large, it can solve so many public service and community needs. But there are still a few kinks in it." One of the fund's quirks, Gump says, is that almost half of all the money from this year's endowment went toward salaries for himself and his assistant in University Hall.

"If the money is for community service programs, that should be the case and that should be made clear," says Barton. "My impression was that the money would be for programming and direct services."

City Councilor David E. Sullivan says that "the question does need to be asked" whether the money from the endowment should "fund existing institutions whose overhead is covered rather than to set up whole new bureaucracies.

"It seems to me if Harvard is spending money it should go to benefit the community and not to pay for administrative overhead," he says.

The amount of new money actually infused into the community has raised additional questions among public service activists. The second largest grant this year went to the Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program (CYEP), a summer camp for "problem children" that has been run for several years by PBH.

The only PBH program to receive a grant from the new fund, the enrichment program had previously received the same amount of funding from President Bok's discretionary fund. In addition, CYEP received $14,000 in funding in 1983, when Bok agreed to match a challenge grant from the City of Cambridge for $7000. In 1984 and 1985, Harvard offered the group $10,000 outright if it did not request funding from the city.

Among the grants the committee also approved this past year include $3000 to Cyclists Fighting Hunger, $2000 toward the Lamont Fellowship, $500 to the Currier House Dance Marathon, and $500 to a new children's theater group.

At one time PSP costs were also covered by the president's discretionary fund. Thus, of the $41,000 doled out from the new $1 million endowment, at least $31,500 replaced funding formerly received from other sources within the university.

Epps says that "the committee felt it had an obligation to fund programs started under [Bok's] initiative," such as PSP and HAND. Both previously received funding from the discretionary fund.

"In the long run," the dean of students says, "the money should go to support direct service programs." But while he says that Gump's salary should not have to come out of this fund, the committee will cover the personnel costs of PSP next year. Epps says there is "a possibility" that the the committee may not do so in the future.

When the committee began to meet to review grant proposals, Epps says, it had no formal criteria for deciding what types of programs to support. The rules for distributing the funds, he says, "were made in the process" of giving out the grants.

The committee was chaired by Fox and five other Harvard officials. But campus volunteers say that if the committee had some student social servants sitting on it, the group would have been better able give out its funds.

"It makes sense that you would want people familiar with public services on the committee," says Barton, who adds that PBH only submitteed a proposal to fund one of its thirty programs.

"It wasn't our decision out of nowhere just to put in one grant--we have a lot of programs that need money," she says. "But we had a meeting with Dean Epps and got the impression that it would be favorable if only one [PBH] group applied."

Epps says that because the committee felt it had an obligation to support some of the president's programs, it did not want PBH activities "to consume the whole $43,000."

Need for Criteria

Most members of social service agencies contacted say they think there needs to be more effective criteria for disbursing the funds. One step in that direction, many say, would be to narrow the allocation of grants to programs that will directly implement their money into the community. Another step in the right direction would be to place an experienced public servant on the committee responsible for approving grants.

"The question of efficiency is a question the Harvard administration has to answer for," says City Councilor Sullivan. "I don't want to be too critical, because obviously any money [Harvard donates] is good. But I haven't seen a whole lot of evidence of benefits in the community."

Here's Where it All Went

Money Doled Out to Community Service Groups This Year

Income is generated from the interest on a new million dollar public service endowment. Public Service Program  $18,110 Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program  $10,000 CityStep  $3515 Cyclists Fighting Hunger  $3000 Office of Career Services/Lamont Fellowship  $2000 Francis de Celle  $1500 Currier House Dance Marathon  $500 Centro Presente  $500 Children's Theater  $500 Suzuki Program  $500 Money spent this year:  $43,000 Funding held over until next year:  $2875