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Enron Mail |
I wanted to provide you an update on where we stand related to several recent
contribution requests. Tom Delay's Request -- We did fulfill the $10,000 request that came to us from Tom and Christine Delay for the Fort Bend Child Advocates. In addition, we've arranged with Heather for your family's foundation to match Enron's gift. I spoke directly with Christine Delay several times and they are very appreciative of the gifts and our efforts to correct the initial oversight. YMCA -- I've had multiple conversations with Heather about a combined Enron/Lay Family contribution to the YMCA. According to Heather, you and Linda have agreed to contribute $500,000 and ask that Enron match. We are, of course, willing to do that. I am scheduling a meeting with Bill Phillips of the YMCA to discuss the gift. We will be talking to him about naming opportunities as well as the YMCA's consideration of extending services to Enron employees at the downtown YMCA, as well as outlying facilities. (FYI: The downtown YMCA recently chose to cancel the agreement we'd had with them allowing Body Shop members to utilize the facility.) Other Capital Campaigns -- We are currently evaluating several other capital contribution requests. Each is outlined below. We are proceeding in several ways. First, I am scheduling a meeting with Marty Sunde to discuss EES's interest in pursuing energy service agreements with these not-for-profit institutions. As you know, EES is focusing its current efforts on much larger scale energy portfolios. Secondly, I am working to evaluate these requests based on the leveraging opportunities associated with each. Finally, we want to be equitable in our giving to these local campaigns as well as consistent in our giving philosophy. We are working to balance these requests relative to each other and to our goal to transfer dollars away from multi-year gifts toward programs. Texas Heart Institute -- I had breakfast yesterday with Bob Devlin, Dr. Denton Cooley, Jack Doherty and Meredith Long. They shared with me plans for a new Texas Heart Institute building in the Medical Center. (The building will bear a striking resemblance to our buildings -- oval in shape and bluish glass.) They are conducting a $75 million campaign -- $42 million to build and equip the building and $33 million to sustain programs in research and education. They are requesting $1 million from Enron and will allow us to specify how the gift is spent. American General and Shell Oil Foundation have each contributed $1 million Baylor College of Medicine -- Amy Lee and I had lunch last week with several folks from Baylor. They are in the midst of a campaign to fund their many programs in research and education. We discussed opportunities to expand our existing medical-based literacy program - Prescription for Reading. They also outlined for us numerous other sponsorship opportunities. No specific dollar amount was requested. While several pharmaceutical companies have contributed in the $500,000 to $1 million range, most of our local peers are within the $100,000 to $500,000 range. University of Houston - MD Anderson Library and the Honors College -- As you know, the University is requesting $500,000 from Enron over 5 years to support renovation of the library. Since our call with Harriet Latimer, I've conducted some research to determine what other local corporations are contributing. Currently, no companies have made a financial commitment. In fact, only Compaq and Shell have committed at all with in-kind contributions. While I am confident that we will support this in some way, I am particularly interested in speaking with Steve Barth and Chet Gladchuck at the University to determine if the library could be rolled into the energy services agreement we are currently evaluating with the University's athletic department. On a separate note, you'd forwarded to me a request from the University to fund a publication "The Future of International Education: Directions & Opportunities." Elyse Kalmans discussed this with her contacts at U of H. They indicated that this was not a high priority for them and would rather have Enron commit its resources to other University endeavors, such as the library. We have chosen to decline this request. I apologize for the length of this memo. However, I did want to keep you updated on the status of these various requests. I will present recommendations to you on each of these pending requests in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please contact me.
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