Endowment Fund Campaign — Give Life:

CAMPAIGN GOAL

$10 Million Endowment Fund, built over 10 years, to secure the long term financial stability and continuity of North Coast Community Homes to enable development and maintenance of homes for individuals with mental retardation, mental illness and other disabilities.

WHY AN ENDOWMENT FUND?

An endowment fund acts like a savings account. The Endowment Fund of North Coast Community Homes (NCCH) is held and managed by The Cleveland Foundation. Five to six percent of the fund is available annually, through return on investments, to meet the operating needs of our organization. The remainder of the earnings is reinvested in our fund to build it to meet our changing needs in the future.

A $10 million Endowment Fund would provide approximately $600,000 annually.

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP

Funding of NCCH come sfrom many sources, including rent generated from our tenants. The question of affordability must always be considered. HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, has recommended that an individual should pay no more than 30% of their adjusted income in rent. Currently, 54% of all NCCH tenants are paying 47.5% of their adjusted income in rent and with our current rent structure, the amounts collected are already insufficient to cover all NCCH costs. Rents, especially, those paid by low income people like our tenants, cannot always be raised to cover increasing costs of doing business.

NCCH maintains high standards in housing development in terms of safety, quality and ongoing maintenance for all its properties. As costs escalate, the cost of maintaining these standards may force a reduction in standards if sufficient funding is not available. Our tenants, many of whom use wheelchairs, give our homes an enormous amount of wear and tear, more than the norm.

Long lists of people with disabilities who are waiting for placement in appropriate community based housing still exist at the various county boards of mental retardation and developmental disabilities. New homes cannot be developed unless funding is available.

For additional information on this campaign, please contact Barbara S. Rosenthal, Esq., Vice President of Resource Development at 216-662-1880, or by email at bsr5@ncch.org.

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