Data point to more funds diverted to 'Dog athletics
Fresno Bee 2/14/07
The document, which university officials describe as a "work paper" reviewing the problem, breaks down corporate and individual donations from fiscal years 1998 through 2003, including the nearly $866,000 that John Welty, president of California State University, Fresno, has said is being restored to academic programs.
It also lists another $312,891 in corporate contributions misdirected in fiscal years 1998, 1999 and 2003.
The document, which was obtained by The Bee under the state Public Records Act, is the fullest accounting yet of corporate donations allocated to athletics despite company rules against doing so.
The corporate-contribution problem was first reported by The Bee on Jan. 28.
Welty, in a public response Feb. 2, said that the misdirection resulted in part from poor oversight and improper procedures that have since been corrected.
After The Bee began asking questions and made Public Records Act requests last year, the university also asked outside legal staff and auditors to review the situation.
Cynthia Teniente-Matson, Fresno State's vice president for administration and chief financial officer, declined to say whether the campus will restore to academic programs the additional sums outlined in the latest document.
"It is premature to address any actions that the university will take," she said in an e-mail.
Matching gifts are donations made by companies to a nonprofit such as a university after initial donations are made by employees or retirees.
A 2003 report by Chris Robinson, then the university's internal auditor, identified almost $461,000 in corporate matching gifts improperly sent to athletics in fiscal years 2000 through 2002.
The university's "work paper" sheds new light on the university's misdirected gifts:
More than $308,000 in corporate matching gifts was misdirected to athletics in fiscal years 1998 and 1999, the two years preceding the period covered in Robinson's report. The Bee, citing another document provided by the university, previously reported nearly $155,000 was misdirected in fiscal year 1999. But The Bee had not previously reported that about $154,000 was misdirected in fiscal year 1998.
Robinson's 2003 report stated no corporate matching gifts were misdirected for about half of fiscal year 2003. The latest document states $4,695 was misdirected in that fiscal year.
Robinson's 2003 report also identified about $405,000 in individual donor gifts -- which trigger the corporate matches -- improperly received by athletics. This includes a small amount in fiscal year 2003. A total of more than $287,000 in individual donor gifts was improperly received by athletics in fiscal years 1998 and 1999, according to the latest document.
Robinson's report included a four-year plan to restore the total amount of improper gifts to athletics -- about $866,000 from companies and individuals -- to academics.
Most of the money, to come from athletics and two accounts of unrestricted nonstate funds, was to go to the library and the Music Department.
All but about $84,000 from this 2003 payment plan has been sent to academics.
The final payment will be made by June 30.
The "work paper" lists nearly $1.47 million in corporate and individual gifts improperly sent to athletics, compared to the approximately $866,000 in Robinson's report.
It's unclear why the university considered individual donor gifts, as well as their corporate matches, improperly allocated.
Robinson, now the university's controller, said in an interview last year that he limited his review to three full fiscal years and a portion of a fourth because of constraints on his time and because three full years is typical for such audits.