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-54- [[underline]] Unrestricted Purpose Funds [[/underline]] - Included within this category of the Institution's budget are the auxiliary activities such as the Associates Program (which includes the [[underline]] Smithsonian [[/underline]] Magazine), the Museum shops, restaurant and parking concessions, and a portion of the central administrative staff described below. About 17% (792 employees) are paid from these funds. The limited size of unrestricted income prior to fiscal year 1973 permitted little or no discretion to Smithsonian management or its Board of Regents in their use. Some growth of these funds in the last few years has enabled the Regents and the Institution to act on support of additional high-priority needs. For example, public service activities such as the recent construction in the West Court of the Natural History Building have been completed; and major improvements to the Museum Shops were made possible. Estimated budgets for the use of unrestricted funds are approved by the Board of Regents annually. Currently, the Regents have approved as their first priority a program of building up the Institution's small unrestricted endowment funds. Given a very long history of precarious trust fund support, the small size of the endowment funds requires that the Institution prudently should strengthen its resources as a hedge against continuing inflation and other unpredictable effects of economic uncertainty. Under this policy the unrestricted funds received in FY 1977 and future years will be dedicated largely to building the endowment funds. Special consideration will be given, however, to expanding