Message From the President

I love the photo we chose for our annual report this year. It is triumphant, it is positive and it embodies the spirit of what those of us involved with Iowa’s private higher education believe a great college experience provides for students. It is ICF’s mission encapsulated in photographic form. I keep it on my desk as a reminder of what is at the heart of each day’s tasks and it has been a source of inspiration to me during this year full of surprises
and challenges.

We may not literally have mountaintops in Iowa, but I believe that the funding and opportunities that ICF provides Iowa’s students to create their own personal mountaintops to shout from. I can certainly imagine a student without great financial means, unsure of what the future holds for them, opening their financial aid letter and discovering that they can attend the college of their dreams. I know that there are arms being outstretched, whoops of joy being emitted and shouts of “Yes!!!” spontaneously erupting as a result of the correspondence that arrives in many of our student’s mailboxes. Those are without a doubt shout-worthy mountaintops.

As freshman students begin to connect with what makes their school a unique fit for their needs, as they find a professor who seems to understand who they are and where they want to go, and as they progress through their curriculum and feel they have the support they need to “make it”; I know there are shouts from those mountaintops, too. Certainly as senior students graduate and secure jobs, knowing that their experiences and studies have prepared them not just for their career, but for life, there are great shouts from the highest of personal mountaintops.

At ICF we have witnessed other mountaintop exclamations of triumph this year. Following the storm-related devastation in eastern Iowa during the summer of 2008, and the economic chaos that followed, we fully expected ICF’s support from that area of the state to be lower this year. I am happy to report, however, that even Mother Nature cannot diminish the spirit of generosity. Every past donor in that area continued their support of ICF again this year. Even some businesses that had not been able to re-open their doors yet, made gifts to the Iowa College Foundation – definitely mountaintop material!

So you can see why this photo seems to be the perfect symbol for ICF this year and our annual report. It represents our students, their dreams and their accomplishments; it represents our donors and their dedication to our mission; and it certainly represents how those of us at the Iowa College Foundation feel about what we do here.

As president of ICF, I have the privilege of traveling throughout the state to visit with donors, with students, and with the administration at our member institutions. Those opportunities are truly the best part of my job. So if you see me standing somewhere in one of our Iowa communities, extending my arms to the sky with a positive shake, please understand I’m just having a “mountaintop moment.” To ICF’s donors, Executive Committee and Board of Governors, member school presidents, volunteers and students, thank you for making all of those moments possible.