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BY DENNIS BROOKS, P.ENG., P.GEOPH.
Education Foundation Columnist
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Donation data are now available for the year to the end of
July:
| Voluntary Donations |
$29,289 (same period last year: $22,872) |
| Summit Award |
$31,400 (Calendar year 2002: $21,000) |
| |
(Calendar year 2001: $39,650) |
Figures I had in the last PEGG of $53,600 obviously included
a substantial amount of Summit Awards® revenue, which
appears to be closer this year to an annual average value.
There is always a concern that members will lose interest
in supporting this particular charitable effort, and that
donations will peak out. It is gratifying to see we are still
on track to meet or exceed last year's great result!
I'm hoping our new database will yield other data that measure
our growth: number of donors, and average value of donations.
Growing our base of support will be the key to our success.
BYLAWS, AGAIN
In March 2002, a special resolution was passed by the Education
Foundation at the Annual General Meeting to make some changes
to the bylaws intended to streamline our operation a bit.
Due to circumstances beyond the foundation's control, these
were not submitted to Alberta's Corporate Registry until the
fall. They were rejected because pro forma requirements were
not met.
On further review it was realized that there may have been
an error in the minutes when the resolution was passed and
one of the bylaws was left unchanged. By this time, the March
2003 Annual General Meeting was coming up, and it was felt
that the part of the minutes should be reviewed by the membership
to determine if an error was made.
The result was we corrected the error, and then all the i's
were dotted and the t's crossed and it was resubmitted to
Corporate Registry.
The registry has now advised that our bylaws failed to cover
certain registry needs common to all societies, and it has
been rejected again - not because of our changes but because
of omissions in the original submission.
We need to meet with their officials and discuss these omissions
- perhaps changes have been made to the Societies Act in the
meantime. At this point, it looks as if we will have to present
another special resolution to our foundation membership and
there will be even more delays. Oh well!
BUSINESS OF THE BOARD
The board of directors met by teleconference on June 24 and
some important decisions were made.
1. Two committees of the board have been formed to meet with
heads of engineering and the earth sciences in both Calgary
and Edmonton. They are to meet periodically with those groups
to determine needs for funding, programs, or other assistance
the foundation may be able to provide.
2. A finance committee has been formed from officers and members
of the board. They are tasked to create a business plan and
a budget for the foundation and to oversee our investments.
So far, our investments have been all in the money market,
which has been a fortunate choice the last few years but one
that may not be the only choice for safe returns in the times
ahead. Also, as our funds grow, it is important to have adequate
diversity.
3. Two new officers have been appointed: past-president and
treasurer.
4. Some new, possible projects are under consideration: an
award under the Management Development Certificate Program
at the U of A for professional engineers, geologists and geophysicists;
sponsorship of contests at the high school level for essays
in physics; and, likely at a higher level, some kind of contest
that would promote more effective presentation by our professionals.
Next meeting of the board is scheduled for Sept. 9.
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