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Since my last column in Uncommon Sense, many of the Institute’s friends have asked about the status of the Omohundro endowment. Here is where things stand at present.

The estate is in the process of being settled, and I have not yet been made aware of how much money the bequest contains. The most optimistic projections I have heard—and these were communicated before the recent implosion of the stock market—indicated that the annual interest earned by the endowment will amount to slightly less than a quarter of our present budget of $1.5 million. Last May, in anticipation of this considerable enhancement of the Institute’s financial position, the Council and the Executive Board created a Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by former Council chair Ira Berlin, to recommend to me a series of priorities and initiatives to be considered if such an increase in income takes place.

I say “if such an increase in income takes place” rather than “when” because the impact of the recent downturn in financial markets has resulted in a sizeable decrease in the funding that the Commonwealth of Virginia provides for the College of William and Mary, and the College, in turn, has passed the cutbacks on to all of its components, including the Institute. Specifically, I have been directed to reduce the Institute’s budget for the current fiscal year—eight months of which remain—by 7 percent and to expect more reductions starting in July 2009. It has further been emphasized to me that this downsizing in funding is permanent. The news from Colonial Williamsburg is similarly disheartening. The Foundation recently announced the elimination of 140 jobs and its intention to leave unfilled an equal number of positions currently open.

There is no crystal ball to tell us what the future holds. One of the Council and Executive Board’s chief concerns in constituting the Strategic Planning Committee was to assure that the Omohundro bequest would come to the Institute as an enhancement and that it not serve as a rationale for the two permanent sponsors to reduce their annual contributions to a level that simply allows for the maintenance of the status quo. But that was before the bottom fell out—and this is after.

The basic parameters of the Institute’s situation have not changed, however. Even in the best of scenarios, the income the Institute is likely to receive from the Omohundro endowment will cover only a portion of our current needs. Hence we must continue to rely upon substantial support from the College of William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg—and from our Associates—if we are to sustain the work that we do at the level of excellence that has traditionally been its hallmark.

In this space last summer I wrote about the “enormous sense of relief ” I felt in 1996, when the negotiations that finalized the Omohundro gift were successfully concluded, because whatever financial dangers might materialize in the future, I no longer feared that they could threaten the continuance of the Institute in its present configuration. That I still believe this to be true even amid the grim set of circumstances in which we currently find ourselves is an affirmation of the importance of the study of the early American past in which the Institute collectively engages us. You have consistently demonstrated your dedication to this work by investing time, energy, and intellect in it and by supporting it through membership in the Associates. As an antidote for despair in these difficult times I offer my conviction that no matter how daunting the challenges our founding sponsors face, they will continue to sustain the Institute as they have for more than six decades, that the Omohundro bequest will at the very least help us hold the line, and that the loyalty and generosity represented by the columns of Associates’ names that conclude the print issue of Uncommon Sense confirm the strength of an enduring commitment.