Education pays dividends; one woman shows how investing in children's education can produce a windfall. (Black Wealth Initiative).

IF YOU'VE EVER WANTED TO KNOW WHAT THE POWER of compound interest can do, just ask Oral Lee Brown, a successful real estate broker in Oakland, California. In 1987, Brown began saving $10,000 of her own money each year toward the cost of higher education for a class of first grade students she "adopted" at Brookfield Elementary School in Oakland. Today, by simply using interest-bearing savings accounts, she has managed to grow her personal contributions, and those of others, into a fund that pays the tuition, room, and board for 19 of the original 23 first-grade students she offered to help attend college.

Brown, 56, is founder and CEO of the Oral Lee Brown Foundation (OLB), which she established 13 years ago to provide a college education for one class of disadvantaged children at Brookfield Elementary. The success of her effort has led the Foundation to expand both its fundraising operations and mission. This year, OLB will offer 20 ninth-graders, 20 fifth-graders, and 20 first-graders, from various schools throughout Oakland, the opportunity to have their college education paid for. Brown says, "The goal, after 2005, is to have a group of 15-20 kids graduate from college every year." By putting her own money on the line to educate these children, Brown demonstrates the incredible impact of committing oneself to DOFE principle No. 7: to use a portion of my personal wealth to strengthen my community.

A native of Batesville, Mississippi, Brown was motivated to create the OLB Foundation after a little girl asked her for some spare change on a street corner while she was on her way to work in 1987. After buying a bag of groceries for the girl to take home, Brown couldn't shake the feeling that there had to be something else she could do to help other children like that little girl have a brighter future. Brown's resolve led her to Brookfield, where she pleaded with the principal and the parents to allow her to visit the children weekly, and she offered to pledge $10,000 a year to send them to college.

Brown had several meetings with the school board and parents and also underwent a background check, before she was granted permission to "adopt" her first class in December 1987.

"What was really impressive was that she gave of herself," says Yolanda Peeks, the executive director of the Oakland Unified School District, who was Brookfield's principal when OLB was officially formed in 1989. "She went out of her way to provide encyclopedias, books, computer, and opportunities for the kids and parents to get together outside of school hours. The scholarship contributions became secondary."

Next, she had to set up an account to make sure that the money she was going to earmark for the children would be there when they were ready to go to college. Therefore, she established a trust fund at Home Savings of America (now Washington Mutual Bank) in Oakland, with herself, Peeks, and a local clergy member, Minister Frank Gilbert of the Love Temple Missionary Baptist Church, as executors. After news spread about what she was doing, Berkeley, California, lawyer Fred L. Harvey offered to do all the legal work to establish the Oral Lee Brown Foundation pro bono.

Over the years, Brown has contributed her yearly $10,000 plus received individual contributions, and held an annual fundraiser to raise money for the Foundation. She has only invested in interest-bearings savings accounts because "the stock brokers showed me how the money could make more interest, but it was never guaranteed. With this money that I'm trying to save to put students through college, I would much rather be assured of 6% interest, than to be pulling my hair out watching the market saying that we've lost $12,000 or $15,000."

In fact, Brown says that since she started the fund in 1989, the lowest rate of interest he received was 5.75% and the highest was 10.5%. The Foundation began sending students to college in 1999, averaging between $130,000 and $140,000 in tuition payments each year.

Jeffery Toney, a 21-year-old junior at Columbia College in Chicago, says the Foundation gave him a second chance. "Coming from where I'm from, something really bad would have happened to me a long time ago." Sporting a 3.0 grade point average, Toney is pursuing his bachelor's degree in business management and hopes to release a hip-hop album through an independent record label later this year.

To create a similar impact in your community, consider the following:

* DON'T BE SELFISH

There's no doubt about it: $10,000 is a lot of money to give away, yet Brown saw that by giving, she could change things. "We all need to take a look at ourselves," she says. "When we look, we'll find that we all have a little bit more than we need, and we could give a little bit more of ourselves."

* ENLIST PROFESSIONAL HELP

When it came to the financial and legal matters regarding the Foundation, Brown didn't go it alone. She sought help from Home Savings to establish a trust account that would allow checks to be sent only to institutions of higher learning. She also accepted legal help from Harvey and others when needed.

* INVOLVE THE COMMUNITY

Brown met with parents and the school board to get their approval and buy-in before she went ahead with her plan. "She had a clear vision of what she wanted to do," says Peeks, adding that Brown also pulled in Minister Gilbert, a well-known and respected community member, to help manage her effort. Later, she built a board of outstanding members of the community to help sustain the project.

* RECRUIT OTHERS TO JOIN YOUR FUNDRAISING EFFORTS

Brown reaches out for individual donations at all times, but she also began holding an annual dinner to raise large sums of money. Last year was the most successful so far. The Foundation raised $72,000, with Malcolm-Jamal Warner as host and Wells Fargo Bank underwriting the event's $35,000 cost. The Foundation got a further boost from a relationship she built with a wealthy couple who helped raise $152,000 in private donations. That money will go toward sending the next group of OLB students to college. "It just bothers me that we're in the year 2002 and we still have kids begging for an education," says Brown.

Declaration of Financial Empowerment

From this day forward, I declare my vigilant and lifelong commitment to financial empowerment. I pledge the following:

1 To save and invest 10% to 15% of my after-tax income

2 To be a proactive and informed investor

3 To be a disciplined and knowledgeable consumer

4 To measure my personal wealth by net worth, not income

5 To engage in sound budget, credit, and tax management practices

6 To teach business and financial principles to my children

7 To use a portion of my personal wealth to strengthen my community

8 To support the creation and growth of profitable, competitive, black-owned enterprises

9 To maximize my earning power through a commitment to career development, technological literacy, and professional excellence

10 To ensure that my wealth is passed on to future generations