PBH to Cut Funds For Program Grants

The Phillips Brooks House (PBH) Cabinet must cut spending on its 51 programs by nearly 60 percent this year, Van L. Truong '89, the group's president, said yesterday.

The public service organization must lower its expenditures from $58,000 to $24,000, said Truong. The group's small endowment cannot generate enough funding now to keep pace with its expansion, he said.

In addition to the grants, PBH must continue to pay $76,000 in fixed costs to maintain its building, pay administrative expenses, and conduct its fundraising activities.

"We're a victim of our success because we've grown so much," he added.

Many of the smaller programs depend directly on the 94-year-old organization for funding, Truong said, so any budget cuts affect them the most. "Programs without outside funding will be the hardest hit," he said.

Most of the larger PBH committees do extensive fundraising on their own, however. Some, such as the University Lutheran Shelter Program and the Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program, receive government grants as well.

A long-awaited fund drive began last year to replenish the group's endowment, Truong said. PBH hopes to raise $6000,000, which would provide $30,000 of interest annually. Under the terms of the endowment drive, the group may not use the money it raises until 1990. However, he said interest on donated money may be used immediately.

"We're going to have to deal with severe cuts over the next couple years, but the successful endowment drive will enable us to pull through," said Treasurer Jose F. Sanchez '89.

The expanding public service organization has balanced its budget for several years by depleting an emergency U.S. Trust Account, Sanchez said. Last year's budget took $43,200 from this account, leaving only $30,000, he said.

To stretch out the remainder, the PBH cabinet plans to pull only $15,000 from the account and to compensate for the decreased revenue by reducing its program grants, Truong said. He said the cabinet plans to exhaust the fund over the next two years, after which the endowment money will provide income for the association.

Currently, the chief source of income for PBH is an annual appeal, which attracts outside donations through a newsletter and a telethon. But the endowment drive has diverted some contributions from the appeal this year, and the organization has received only $20,000 from its 1988 fundraisers--about half the usual sum.

PBH does not receive financial support from the Harvard administra- tion. "I think they should help out more,"Truong said. "I feel like we're very low onHarvard University's priority list."

The cabinet has proposed three methods ofcutting the budget, said Sanchez. Possibilitiesinclude across-the-board cuts, an $800 cap on allprograms, or a progressive budget cut that wouldimpose proportionally harsher reductions on thelarger groups.

PBH does not plan to cut any programcompletely. "We know that it'll cut into ourprograms, but one of our goals is that it affectsthe services we provide as little as possible,"Sanchez said