Cohen Center to Benefit from Gift of Nearly $3 Million
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — The University of Maine Foundation has received a gift of approximately $2.85 million to support UMaine’s William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce. The center was established in UMaine’s College of Business, Public Policy and Health in 1997, when Cohen left the U.S. Senate and donated to UMaine the papers from his quarter-century serving Maine in Congress. In 2000, upon completion of four years as Secretary of Defense, Cohen added the papers from his work in the Pentagon to the UMaine collection.
“This is a wonderfully generous gift, for which we are very grateful. It will enable us to advance the mission of the Cohen Center as an important part of the the college’s activities and a cornerstone of our future,” says Daniel Innis, dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Health. “The study of international policy as it relates to business is a fundamental element of our business curriculum. With this gift, the Cohen Center will be in a position to contribute in a more robust way to the education of our students, while also fulfilling its important outreach role.”
The gift, which takes the form of six charitable lead trusts, will produce income for the Cohen Center in annual installments, beginning later this year. Two-thirds of that income will be used to support the current needs of the Cohen Center, while the remaining one-third will be added to the already established Cohen Center endowment. The income payments will continue well into the future. The donor wishes to remain anonymous.
“The short and long-term impact of this gift will be phenomenal,” says Amos Orcutt, president/CEO of the University of Maine Foundation. “The Cohen Center will very soon begin to receive income payments, which will provide a real, immediate boost the program. On top of that, the Cohen Center’s long-term future will be quite bright, as a portion of this income will be added to the endowment. Indeed, when the charitable lead trusts begin to terminate, the endowment will be substantially larger, thus allowing for perpetual and substantial support for the Cohen Center.
“What makes a charitable lead trust unique,” Orcutt says, ” is that it pays substantial income to the charity for a lengthy period of time and, once that period of time is over, the trust monies are then paid over to designated individuals, such as a donor’s grandchildren. In addition, there are many valuable income tax and estate tax benefits to a donor in establishing a charitable lead trust.”
The center was established with a $100,000 gift from Cohen. It is supported by an endowment and other funds that total approximately $1.3 million. That money, which is used to fund the center’s fundamental activities, has been accumulated through a significant number of individual donations.
Through its initial phase of establishment and organization, the center’s focus has been on the development of the Cohen Papers Archive and on the presentation of the William S. Cohen Lecture Series.
The collection of papers, managed by archivist Paige Lilly, has been catalogued and is currently available for use by academic researchers and others with an interest in Cohen’s career.
The lecture series has brought four high-profile speakers to UMaine since 1997, each of whom addressed large audiences at the Maine Center for the Arts. Cohen delivered the first lecture himself, with subsequent lectures presented by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Sen. John Glenn and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
“We look forward with great anticipation to a bright future for the Cohen Center, thanks to this wonderful gift,” says Jeffery Mills, vice president for University Advancement. “UMaine is indeed fortunate to have this close connection with Bill Cohen, who ranks among the most prominent and effective public servants in our state’s history.”
“This gift will provide the resources necessary to advance the Cohen Center in a way that has not been possible to this point,” says Innis, who has been the college’s dean for two years. “We will first use it to hire a director, who will execute the university’s vision for the center, while working with others in the university and beyond to maximize the center’s impact on our curriculum, research and public engagement.”
Innis also notes that UMaine’s Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) curriculum has recently been revised to increase its emphasis on the study of international business policy. In fact, each student who enters that program will have as part of his or her course of study a practical business experience in a foreign country.
“The opportunity to advance the Cohen Center comes at an ideal time,” Innis says. “It meshes perfectly with the other initiatives that are underway in the college.”
Early in Cohen’s career, he taught business law at UMaine.