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Friday November 17, 2006

Palo Alto campus cracks $100 million in fundraising

by joe eskenazi
staff writer

In Shelley Hebert’s fundraising adventure, seven digits was heaven, eight wasn’t quite enough, and nine is feeling fine.

Palo Alto’s Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life cracked nine digits — $100 million — in its fundraising drive this week, when Hebert was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund doubled its initial offering from $5 million to $10 million.

“We’re always asking. Asking is an ongoing process. But we just learned the good news,” said Hebert, the campus’ CEO, of the Goldman donation.

“We have been going back to many of our current donors and telling them the only thing that stands between us and the shovels in the ground is reaching our fundraising goal.”

Palo Alto’s city council unanimously approved the massive campus project in a Sept. 11 meeting. Hebert — along with the board members of the Palo Alto JCC, the Jewish Home and the CJL — has tentatively decreed that construction will commence when roughly $135 million of the targeted $155 million goal is accounted for.

Hebert hopes construction can start by July 2007 on the project, which would create a “Jewish main street” comprised of a senior living facility, JCC, federation office and several other Jewish agencies on the former Sun Microsystems campus.

Of course, as in any project involving hundreds of millions of dollars, it isn’t all that simple. State law dictates that 70 percent of the units in the campus’ senior housing facility be sold prior to construction. And, in addition to the $155 million in fundraising pledges, the campus will rely on a pair of bonds to cover the estimated $266 million overall price tag for the campus’ land, buildings and soft and hard costs. Since the bond-financing process usually takes four to six months to set up, Hebert will decide to pull the trigger or not based on fundraising totals in the first quarter of 2007.

The Goldman fund re-upping its gift was crucial, noted Hebert, as time really is money for the campus.

For the past few decades, any group undertaking a large-scale building project could count on construction costs swelling by about 3 percent per year. But these days, 10 percent yearly jumps are commonplace. Hebert estimates that every month after July of ’07 that the campus delays its groundbreaking will cost $1.4 million.

“The best way to control costs is to get into construction and lock them in,” she said.

The Goldman fund’s doubling of its initial gift is typical of many large-scale campaigns, added Hebert.

“Over time, as confidence builds, people start with an initial level of giving, and as excitement in the project grows, people are often asked to increase their gift,” she said.

And while the campus’ heavy hitters will be asked to step to the plate once again, Hebert is still looking for first-time donors.

“We are actively seeking [donors] we hope will follow in the spirit of the Goldman fund.”

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