Fuller’s Core Commitments and Updates on the Future of Fuller: Plans for a Balanced Budget
The Future of Fuller Working Group recommendations to the board equal $6.4 million in financial improvements comprising revenue increases, budget reductions, removing items from the multi-year plan, and more. Of the $6.4 million in financial improvements, $4.6 million are budget reductions that will happen over three years (FY20–FY22). These reductions are in addition to budget reductions of $3.5 million over the last three years. Together, Fuller’s annual budget will be reduced by $8.1 million in a six-year span (FY17–22). This has been a long process, requiring the considerable dedication of administrative leaders, faculty representatives, and managers who took advantage, as much as possible, of retirements and other departures to reduce the number of layoffs.
In the most recent budget reductions, managers were asked to make recommendations for 15 percent reductions in their areas and provide insight on the implications of these potential changes. According to Vice President of Strategic Planning and Change Management Theresa Edy-Kiene, these “exemplar managers” approached this difficult task with sobriety and determination, resulting in $1.1 million in cost reductions. Edy-Kiene, who worked alongside frontline leaders, remarks that they “showed extraordinary leadership in delivering difficult budget reductions in their departments.”
The plan is to achieve a balanced budget no later than July 2022 (FY23), which includes the budget reductions noted above, operational cost efficiencies in the relocation to a new campus, a significant increase in the overhead contribution from the Leadership Formation Division, new strategies to stabilize tuition revenue, and increased revenue from the annual fund and capital campaign. These substantive—and sometimes painful—changes, concurs Senior Advisor Bill Clark, represent a “remarkable partnership between faculty representatives, administrators, managers, and staff to find ways to preserve the integrity of Fuller programs while strengthening the resilience of the institution.”