FOL Donations and Distributions Committee Minutes

March 8, 2006

  1. The Committee considered Scott Rosenberg’sfor a donation to the service trip to Lesotho he leads. The work is primarily with an orphanage in Maseru. The committee agreed to a $400 donation. Richard will contact Scott and John.
  1. Request from Lesotho Business Institute (LBI) for assistance. The request was forwarded from Faye Farmer. Claire will follow up with Faye for more information. The Committee decided to take no further action at this time.
  1. A donor is making a substantial donation to Positive Action Lesotho through FOL. Positive Action works to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. The donor has his money in an account with Schwab, who needs FOL’s tax id to start the transaction. John asked if the Committee is okay with the request. Richard will ask John if he thinks an MOU is necessary. Since the transaction is actually with the donor and not the recipient, an MOU might not be appropriate. The Committee decided it is okay to go forward with transaction. Members of the Committee are familiar with Positive Action. Richard will contact John.
  1. Todd asked the Committee to look at the Just Give website to see if they had any suggestions about improving our presence on the website. Martha said she would look at it.
  1. A donation was made for PCV Sharon Zeiden’s projects. Claire said she would contact Sharon for more information.
  1. John sent some items to the Committee that he would like some guidance on:
  1. PCVs or RPCVs are doing fund raising for their own projects. How should these be administered? The Committee thinks FOL should consider working with the VAC on this type of donation. Jim will look into the possibility of setting up procedures to work with VAC. FOL should also suggest to PCVs that they let FOL know ahead of time about these types of donations. Richard will contact John for his advice on whether or not these donations are tax deductible.
  2. PCVs doing fundraising for TAP: We should follow current arrangements. Richard will contact John.
  3. Donors wanting to direct funds to projects in Lesotho they are familiar with. We should continue to follow our current policies.
  4. Lesotho organizations requesting direct assistance: The Committee felt in general that with these sorts of requests we should have MOUs and someone in Lesotho who can give FOL some feedback on the organization. Claire will contact Don Spicer to see if he has some suggestions about who might be able to check on projects and Jim will examine this when he discusses some or these procedures with PC/L and PC officials.
  1. Martha had a question about whether or not donations to a specific student’s tuition is tax deductible. We don’t think so, but Richard will check with John.
  2. Regarding a request from Fundraising about how much money will help a kid in Lesotho. Martha will contact Kevin to see if he needs more information than was already provided.
  3. Regarding Bill’s proposal about building a reserve fund. The committee felt we should build this fund over a several year period (perhaps 5 years), and that money going into the fund should come from “undesignated funds”. Richard and Martha will look into it further, specifically, what would be an appropriate amount to keep in reserve for TAP and VAC.

Action Items

  1. Scott Rosenberg’s request: Richard will contact John.
  2. LBI request: Claire will contact Faye.
  3. Positive Action: Richard will contact John.
  4. Just Give Website: Martha will look at this.
  5. Sharon Zeiden’s Donation: Claire will follow up with Sharon.
  6. Tax regulations regarding specific VAC and TAP donations. Richard will contact John.
  7. Jim will follow up with PC Lesotho and PC Washington about developing a better connection with FOL.
  8. Building a Donations Reserve: Richard and Martha will look further into what would be an appropriate amount.