UAA Board Meeting Minutes
April 21, 2011
Participants:
Executive Committee: Paula Goddard (Chair) , Nancy Tumavick, George Hill, Carol Peasley, Curt Farrar, David Cohen, Brad Langmaid, Gary Merritt.
1. Minutes. March minutes were approved. Paula and Nancy will consolidate all approved Board minutes which will be posted to the website.
2. Intern. Thus far Gary has received no applicants for the intern position from the initial posting at Georgetown University by Ann. It was decided to cast a wider net to American University (Carol), George Washington University (Gary) and DOS Family Liaison Office (George). In order to possibly attract applicants who are not university students, and given that it is a salaried position, it was decided to change the title of the position to Part-Time Administrative Assistant and to include the announcement in the UAA April Newsletter.
3. Treasurer’s Report. George reported a current balance on account of $14, 076 after the advance payment to the Clarendon Ballroom for the October AGM.
He announced the approval by the IRS of the UAA application for tax free 501(c)3 status. As a public charity, all contributions to UAA are deductible and the deductibility determination is retro-active to May 29, 2009. As to be expected, there are certain formalities that accompany IRS approval of our application for 501 (c) 3 status, including annual reports and internal audits. George recommended that UAA find volunteers for the Finance Committee to help oversee our book keeping and reporting processes. The announcement seeking volunteers, hopefully with some professional financial experience such as comptrollers, auditors or legal advisors, will be included in the April Newsletter. Should no one qualified respond, Carol suggested that audit firms often will provide pro bono services and we could pursue that avenue.
4. Newsletter. In preparing the April Newsletter, Nancy had a question about appropriate items for the Newsletter versus the web site. The Board opinion was that redundancy at this point is not an issue. For example, with the assistance of Larry Smucker, the Development Issues Committee will be supplementing the professional resource links developed by David for the website, with the important additions to be highlighted in the monthly Newsletter to the membership. Nancy will forward to Ann this week the final draft of the April issue. Paula is responsible for the May Newsletter.
5. Web Site. David and Gary provided a presentation of the new web site. Although the discussions were extensive it was decided to schedule a special Board Meeting in early May for continuance. (Gary and David) Meanwhile, the following decisions were taken and actions assigned:
- Although the basic new website design is in place, there are continuing issues with the links. Need to pause before activating the new web site until the complications are resolved.
- UAA Constant Contact access needs to be broadened beyond just Gary who is the current signatory. Gary will develop a generic owner and password to be provided to: Webmaster, Administrative Assistant, Co-Chairs, Membership Chair and Treasurer. Agreement is that none of the individuals will change the password so that all maintain access. Noted that the cost is $40/month with the current level of activity. There is an additional fee of $5 for surveys.
- Google Docs will serve as the repository for official files to assure shared access. Carol volunteered to set up the system with help from David as needed.
- Data base management needs attention. The Administrative Assistant should handle the mechanics but the substance needs additional input from members of the Membership/Website Committee who include estimated six volunteers working with Gary and David.
- There is a continuing discussion about access to the internal web site features by members who do not pay dues but have registered with UAA. Suggestion was made to take the question to the AGM this November. The by-laws need to be reviewed to assure no conflict.
6. Committee Reports. The Board reviewed and approved revised statements of overall committee objectives to be posted to the web site. Objective will be linked to the recent committee reports.
- Development Issues (Curt). It was noted that the UAA principal point of contact at USAID on matters of evaluation is Cynthia Clapp-Wincek , recently appointed Head of Evaluation, PPL Bureau.
- Membership/Website (Gary): Reported under separate Agenda item above.
- Strengthening USAID (Pam and Dave): No report. It was mentioned that the next DLI group will begin in the May-June timeframe. The committee is expected to develop a proposal on UAA member engagement with the new group.
- Outreach (Brad): List of Public Outreach speakers, with concurrence from each of them due to privacy issues, will be posted in the public section of the web site to assure anyone interested in a speaker has the list available. Web Materials are under development to provide to the speakers to assist them in planning presentations. The Committee has been approached by the spouse of a UAA member with the request to be included in the list of speakers. It was decided that the spouse could be listed with the clear understanding that any public commentary does not represent the UAA, the same caution as provided anyone on the list.
7. Development Dialogue Summaries. Gary reported on the very successful USAID Alumni Association co-hosted occasional speaker luncheons with DACOR Bacon House. Development Dialogues at DACOR (DDD) provide a comfortable site for USAID alumni and others to meet, dine, listen and discuss overseas development issues in US foreign affairs. For the many UAA and DACOR members who live outside the DC region and cannot attend, an audio podcast of most DDD presentations and discussion is made available within a day or so of the event the URL link to which is provided in subsequent email newsletters. Gary requested suggestions from Board members for additional speakers. Details of the DDD series to date appear at Attachment A.
8. Other. George raised the recently issued USAID notice about compromise of State Med personal information for the 20 year period 1990-2010. Besides including this in the April Newsletter with a link to the actual notice to be posted on the website, Carol suggested that a letter to the USAID Administrator from the UAA Co-Chairs would be appropriate noting our disappointment that USAID has not been more pro-active in the face of a potentially serious issue especially for retirees. (Paula)
9. Next Meeting. UAA Board meetings will take place on the third Thursday of each month from 10:30 to 12:00 noon, unless there is an exception. The Board expressed appreciation to Paula Goddard and Tetra Tech for the use of the facility and accepted her invitation to hold the next meeting on May 19 at Tetra Tech. It was noted that Nancy will be absent from both May and June meetings while on TDY to Sri Lanka so someone will need to record the minutes in her stead. Ann will also be absent, so Paula will chair.
A few suggestions for the May agenda: AGM planning and elections, Discussion of proposal for reduced dues to be presented to AGM for decision, Clarification of membership status based on review of bylaws, Update of 2010 Business Plan including addition of another committee, revised 50th Anniversary plans.
By Board Secretary: Nancy M. Tumavick
Attachment A: Development Dialogues at DACOR
The USAID Alumni Association occasionally hosts luncheons with DACOR Bacon House. Development Dialogues at DACOR (DDD) provide a comfortable site for USAID alumni and others to meet, dine, listen and discuss overseas development issues in US foreign affairs. For the many UAA and DACOR members who live outside the DC region and cannot attend, an audio podcast of most DDD presentations and discussion is made available within a day or so of the event the URL link to which is provided in subsequent email newsletters.
Alumni suggestions for speakers and/or topics are most welcome…write to: <DDD@usaidalumni.org>. This mail goes to John Westley, Gary Merritt, and Ray Martin – current DDD organizers and joint members of UAA and DACOR.
Following is a list of DDD speakers and their topics to date:
April 19, 2011
Carol Lancaster – Dean, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; former USAID Deputy Administrator
“Sixty Years of Foreign Aid – What Have We Learned? What Have We Accomplished?”
March 18, 2011
Larry Heilman, former USAID FSO
“Bolivia – 70 Years of USG Development Assistance…Surprising Findings”
February 1, 2011
Steve Radelet, USAID Chief Economist
“Emerging Africa: How Seventeen Countries Are Leading the Way”
January 25, 2011
Janet Ballantyne, former Senior Advisor to USAID Administrator, Deputy Administrator, and Mission Director
“USAID at 50 – Alumni Retrospectives on Development”
November 30, 2010
James Foster, Professor, George Washington University
“Multidimensional Measures of Poverty”
October 5, 2010
Fred Schieck, former USAID Deputy Administrator
“The Development ‘D’ – Running With the Big Dogs, Defense and Diplomacy”
July 20, 2010
Aaron Williams and Stacy Rhodes, Director of Peace Corps and Chief of Staff
“The Peace Corps: Turning 50”
June 29, 2010
Rev. Dr. David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World
“America’s Role in the World – Mobilizing the Grassroots for Foreign Assistance Reform”
April 6, 2010
John Mellor, former USAID Chief Economist
“Using Foreign Aid to Build Rural Political Support for Government in Conflict Societies – A Currently Unacceptable Position”
October 13, 2009
Sheila Herrling, Senior Policy Associate and Director, “Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Program,” Center for Global Development; leader of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network
“Current Status and Prospects for Revamping the Structure and Content of U.S. Foreign Development Assistance”
July 7, 2009
Peter McPherson, former USAID Administrator and Chairman of the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
“The Organizational Structure of Foreign Assistance”
June 2, 2009
Henrietta Fore, former USAID Administrator and Director of United States Foreign Assistance
“Prospects and Challenges for Reforms in U.S. Foreign Assistance”
May 5, 2009
James Kolbe, former US Congressman, R-AZ
“A Transatlantic Call for Renewed Leadership AND Partnerships for Global Development”
April 7, 2009
Steve Sinding, Retired USAID Director, Office of Population, USAID Mission Director, and
Director General, International Planned Parenthood Federation
“Reflections on USAID’s ‘Golden Era’ in Population & Family Planning: Leadership Views from 1978 – 2008”
January 16, 2009
Brian Atwood, former USAID Administrator, currently dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
“Development and Diplomatic Missions: How They Relate”
December 2, 2008
Witney Schneidman, Director of Global Sullivan Principles, formerly an official at State Department, World Bank, and Center for Strategic and International Studies
“The Future Role, Directions, and Structure of U.S. Development Assistance: A Personal Perspective”
May 6, 2008
Andrew Natsios, former USAID Administrator, currently Distinguished Professor in Practice of Diplomacy, Georgetown University
“Fragile and Failed States: the Development Challenge”
April 14, 2008
Dennis de Tray, Vice President, Center for Global Development
“Getting the Focus Right: US Leadership in the Fight against Global Corruption”
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FYI (from < http://dacorbacon.org/>): DACOR is an organization of foreign affairs professionals founded in 1952 as a place to foster interests in foreign affairs, to maintain and renew friendships, to celebrate lives shared in distant places, and to meet younger officers as they begin their careers. DACOR Bacon House, the home of DACOR, is a beautiful historic building near the World Bank and the “Old Executive Office” Building bequeathed in 1980 by the late Virginia Murray Bacon. It was Mrs. Bacon’s intention to “simply provide a quiet place for…meetings…to facilitate international peace and understanding by bringing together leaders in the field of foreign policy and international relations and law for the purpose of defining and resolving international problems.”