(new) Attachment J1
Financial Aid Funding and Budget
Background and Reflections:
The Executive Committee has endeavored to bring a financial aid recommendation to you that will set the stage for respectful conversation and earn your support. We are mindful of the difficult and divisive conversation of last year which, we believe, occurred in part due a failure on the part of the Executive Committee to make several fundamentally important and underlying assumptions clear and explicit. Those assumptions reflect our belief in the importance of sustaining our conference’s efforts to provide financial support for the Star Island Corporation.
We assumed that our conference’s commitment to providing financial aid would be in addition to other forms of financial support made to the Corporation. We recognize that without the Corporation, the conference has no home and would most likely cease to exist. We also recognize that without a core of robust conferences, the future of the Corporation is in peril.
To make absolutely clear our dedication to sustaining our conference support for the Corporation, each member of the Executive Committee has pledged to increase their individual contribution to the 2010 Annual Fund. For some, the increase is small, for others it is significant. We will ask that each chair make similar commitments.
As reflected in our proposed mission statement, the All Star 1 conference is committed to support the well being of Star Island and to affirm and celebrate our own caring conference community. We believe that the relationship of All Star 1 and Star Island is symbiotic, that both the conference and the Corporation should have our support through time, talent and treasure. The conference has seen a dramatic increase in an expressed need for financial assistance on the part of conferees. In keeping with our desire to support the community and to support the island through full subscription to our conference, we require a strong financial assistance fund, which will foster continuity in the All Star 1 community.
Recommendations:
In order to affirm our commitment to the Corporation, the Executive Committee recommends that:
1. Contributions to the 2010 Annual Fund from past chairs be increased above
the 2009 level; and
2. Each member of the conference be asked to increase his or her gift to the
2010 Annual Fund above 2009 levels.
In order to insure that we have sufficient funds to support the growing need for financial assistance, the Executive Committee makes the following recommendation:
1. Registration fees will be increased by $10 to a level of $95 per adult and $75 per child, so that $20 per registration will be directed toward financial assistance, providing approximately $5000 annually.
2. Up to 50% of the conference’s Art Auction proceeds (generally, between $10,000 and $14,000 total) may be directed toward financial assistance on an annual basis, with the balance contributed to the Annual Fund. The amount to be directed toward financial aid would be dependent on projected need and allocation would be made by the conference treasurer.
3. We commit to raise an additional $2000 per year through activities at the off-island Chairs meeting (e.g., auction, poker, yard sale, etc.)
Note:
If the proposals noted above are approved, the financial aid budget (and Art Auction fund allocation is made as described) the Financial Aid Fund budget for 2011 would appear as follows:
Financial Aid beginning balance: $ 4,096
Art Auction: 4,000 **
Registration fees: 5,000
Chairs off-island meeting: 2,000
Total 15,096
** Total Art Auction proceeds were $14,025. $10,000 (71%) would be directed to the SIC Annual Fund.