Financial Report
WITH the Aumni Fund once again playing its life-saving role in the financial operations of the College, the Dartmouth College books for 1951-52 were closed on June 30 with an unrestricted credit balance of $17,742. Before the application of the Alumni Fund, the excess of expense over income for the year was $471,445.
This highly favorable outcome for fiscal 1951-52 was reported by John F. Meek '33, Vice President and Treasurer of the College, at the October meeting of the Board of Trustees. The $17,742 margin by which Dartmouth finished in the black this past year compared with a similar but somewhat smaller credit balance of $9,183 reported by Mr. Meek at the Trustee meeting the year before. A major factor in this larger balance was the shift in the financial results of the Hanover Inn from a substantial loss to a profit.
The detailed figures on income and expense for 1951-52, with comparative amounts from the preceding year, are presented in the boxed tabulation on this page. Total expense of 15,515,634 was nearly $100,000 greater than the year before and was the highest in the history of the College. Net income, before the Alumni Fund, was also at a new high level and exceeded $5,000,000 for the first time. The auxiliary activities in the tabulation of income and expense include such items as the Dartmouth Dining Association, Dartmouth College Athletic Council, Hanover Inn, Dartmouth outing properties, Hanover Country Club, dormitories, and some Hanover real estate.
Among the facts and figures presented in the Treasurer's report for 1951-52 were the following:
¶ The total assets of Dartmouth College on June 30,1952 amounted to $39,602,387. This figure included $29,853,244 in endowment and similar funds, $8,489,298 in plant assets, and $1,687,683 in current funds.
¶ Student fees, up $29,254 over the previous year, provided 49.3% of the College's total income, while net endowment income provided 27.7%, the Alumni Fund 13% and other current use gifts 3.9%.
The educational and general expense total of $3,746,506 was an increase of $236,398 or 6.7% over 1950-51. Instructional and library costs were 52.9% of the year's operating expense. Plant operation and maintenance was 12.5%, administration 10.7%, scholarships 7.9%, health service 4.4%, auxiliary activities (net) 2.3%, and miscellaneous 9.3%.
Among the auxiliary activities, the Hanover Inn posted an especially gratifying result. Under the supervision of the new alumni Board of Overseers, it showed a profit of $15,378 as against substantial losses in recent years.
The grand total of endowment funds and funds functioning as endowment on June go, 1952, was $29,853,245, a net increase for the year of 11,285,200. Of this increase $641,071 came from gifts and bequests, while the balance consisted in the main of net realized gains of $457,384 on the sale of securities and other endowment assets.
If The net return for the year on the total average investment at book value was 4.97% as compared with 5.11% the year before. On security investments alone the average return was 5.41% at book value, and 4.28% on the basis of average market values. At the end of the fiscal year, market values of securities as compared with book values stood at 127%, an excess amounting to $6,250,746.
If Security investments were distributed 55.2% in common stocks, which had a net return (on book value) of 7-8%; 39-3% in bonds, with a return of 2.8%; and 5.5% in preferred and guaranteed stocks, with a return of 5.21%.
¶ The total plant account on June 30 stood at $8,489,298 or 21% of the College's total assets. If the dormitories and certain service properties carried as investments of endowment funds were included, the plant figure would be $11,465,453. From 1951-52 income the Trustees set aside a deferred maintenance reserve of $30,000 so that some delayed repairs and maintenance work on buildings and grounds can be partly taken care of in the future without placing the full burden on current income.
After charges of $143,271 for enlargement of Wilder Hall, the Hopkins War Memorial Program Fund stood $1,561,926, all of which is being held for construction of the Hopkins Center now that Wilder Hall is completed and the Hopkins Scholarships have been separately endowed. During the year the fund was increased by $39,975 in gifts and $40,997 in investment income.
Printed copies of the 1951-52 financial report, containing detailed schedules of assets and of income and expense for the year, may be obtained by writing to the Office of the Treasurer, Parkhurst Hall, Hanover, N. H.
