The question was leading, and it took the Northwest College Foundation right where Clay Cummins wanted to go.  

“How badly does the Foundation need that $10,000?” asked Cummins at the Foundation board’s late July board meeting.  

The $10,000 was only tentative, a recommended asking price for two acres of land near the college soccer fields, informally used as parking during home soccer games.  The college was eyeing the site for construction of temporary dining facilities which would serve the campus while a new student center, including food service area, was built. 

First, NWC needed to acquire the land. The Foundation was seller; the college was buyer. 

The query from Cummins, longtime Foundation board member and a former Distinguished Alum at Northwest College, cut short discussion of dollars and cents. His point instantly registered with Foundation directors. It really didn’t need an answer.

The $10,000 isn’t a make or break amount for the Foundation or its annual budget of half a million dollars.  As the official fundraising organization for NWC, its principal purpose is raising private funds,  then managing and distributing those funds for the support and enrichment of the college.

The $10,000, on the other hand, is a big deal for the college, which is running tight budgets and carefully husbanding any and all dollars in order to be able to pay its 50% share of the $1.48 million temporary dining facility and 50% of the $20.6 million student center.  

There followed in short order a motion for the Foundation to sell the two acres of land to the college for $1. One buck!

It was unanimously agreed to, and the grateful response of NWC president Lisa Watson was equally quick: “Wonderful.”

The NWC Foundation, by the way, has already committed $500,000 from unrestricted funds to allocate to the college to cover the biggest chunk of its cost for the temporary dining facility.

The $10,000 for the land transfer, in effect waived by the Foundation, was just a cherry on top.