Osamah Qatanani ’21

The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, Boston, MA

For Winter Study, I took a class on the Williams College Endowment where we learned what endowments are, how they’re set up to run successfully, and the relationships they have with its institution. During those four weeks, I became fascinated with the idea of a sustainable source of funds, one that allows an institution to be independent both financially and even administratively. The Williams College Endowment generates over $80 million, annually, for the school. These funds support approximately one-half of the college’s budget and allows the school to do things like meet 100% of demonstrated student financial need. Without the endowment, I wouldn’t have been able to attend Williams in the first place.

Ask almost any non-profit employee anywhere in the world what the largest hurdle and challenge is for them as an organization; they’ll most probably tell you it’s funding. The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) is no different. What has allowed them to do the work they’ve been doing has always been generous charitable donations from various community members. However, people eventually get tired of constantly being asked to donate; thus, non-profits need to find more creative and sustainable ways to generate funds to meet budgetary needs. This past summer, I was fortunate enough to play a vital role in this community center’s survival and evolution.

My team and I faced a plethora of challenges in our attempt to set up an endowment for ISBCC. First, we were dealing with a community (made up mostly of lower-income African Americans, Arabs, and Latinos) that does not have much experience with investing and dealing with higher level finances. And for the most part, many of them don’t have much money to invest. So how were we going to market an endowment to a group of people whose main experience of investing in the last decade has been the 2008 financial crash? This part required a lot of educational workshops, seminars, and presentations. During these presentations, I would often bring up some of my experiences with the Williams and ICPC endowment as a way of portraying what our aim would be for ISBCC’s own endowment.

The second, and biggest, challenge was finding our donor base. We asked ourselves: How can we create a win-win situation for both ICPC and the donors? The answer came shortly after when my team and I came across something called a Charitable Lead Trust. Let’s say a potential donor recently sold their business for $10 million. Instead of paying 30% to taxes, the donor can place the gains in a trust that is invested, with a portion of the investment returns being donated to a non-profit of their choice. The donor then takes the projected donation amount and takes those tax benefits today. This was huge for our strategy of attracting donors; we were growing the endowment substantially and the donors were getting tax benefits in return. To date, 72% of the endowment is made up of CLTs, with the goal of reducing that number about 10% per year over the next five years.

My team and I also spent time structuring ISBCC’s investment goals, standards, and expectations. This was very important because endowments are something we hope will last as long as the institution itself. We created an endowment committee with members who had experienced backgrounds in finance and investing and who will make great decisions for the future.

The experiences at both ICPC and now ISBCC have introduced me to some of the most amazing and inspiring people. From the staff at ISBCC, to some of the members on my own team, I feel like I’ve taken something along with me from every person I’ve encountered over my summer. I learned a lot about what career paths they took and how it led them here and even what some of their future plans are. Through those interactions, I definitely have a more solid grasp of the career path I want to pursue. This summer has reaffirmed my passion for combining the non-profit and business worlds and using one to enhance and amplify the effect of the other. With the purpose of the non-profit world and the productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of the business world, I hope my career can be one that touches and supports as many people as I can.

As I continue my study of economics, my exploration of endowments, and my search for a career, this summer will play an enormous role in shaping my future and painting my passions. I would like to sincerely thank the Kraft Family who generously sponsored my incredible summer experience, as well as the ’68 Center for Career Exploration for making this all possible. Their support has greatly impacted my understanding of my future and allowed me to engage in such fulfilling and fruitful work.