Last Edited MU 10/31/2013
CAA Alumni Chapters + CAA Scholarships – Conference Call Agenda
Goals of the Conference Call:
1. Identify what alumni chapters would like to see locally regarding scholarships and fundraising.
2. Gain insights from chapters about their concerns and local issues regarding scholarships in regards to fundraising and alumni engagement
3. Provide education to alumni on the current selection process and CAA's limitations in regards to programming surrounding the administration of individually selected and funded scholarships.
Conference Call Agenda:
Welcome and Overview – 20 minutes
- Overview of CAA Scholarships Selection Process
- Why the CAA Scholarships Selection Process is this format
- Current limitations – CAA Staff, Resources, and Program Bandwidth
- Share issues/concerns that were provided by Chapter Leaders ahead of time
Q&A of Pre-Shared Issues and Concerns + Open Discussion – 30 minutes
- Discussion topics determined based on issues/concerns that were shared by Chapter Leaders ahead of time. Please send these to us before the conference call – [email protected]
- There will also be time for additional Q&A and an Open Discussion.
Thank you and Next Steps – 10 minutes - Timeline:
o Compiling of notes from both Conference Calls – week of October 27 o Reporting out and sharing of notes to Chapter Leaders – by November 4 o CAA Staff meetings – ongoing during November
o CAA Staff present options –by December 6
***please note – this is our proposed timeline, should we find that we need a little more time to get the necessary information, we will be sure to inform all of you and provide a revised timeline.
Last Edited MU 10/31/2013
Notes from 10/21:
Jack Swing - How can alumni chapters be more involved?
Answer – Chapters and Scholarships will be working together to introduce all the Chapter Leaders to their local Scholarship District Chair – that way everyone can stay in the loop on the upcoming volunteer opportunities to read applications and interview finalists from your area.
Jack Swing–Comment:
Giving up the tax write-off would be a major issue – so it has to stay within the system.
Volunteers are likely happy to participate in the readings and interviews – need to be promoted a little differently and better relationships established with local chapters and District Chairs.
How can chapters have more “say-so” in who locally receives the chapters’ scholarship?
Raymond Banks – Can chapters, at a local level, create a process for a local scholarship that CAA can sign-off on and then the chapter can move forward?
Answer – Unfortunately, the oversight that CAA would need to provide with this option is outside of the current resources that CAA has….primarily we do not have the staff resources to do this and the funding of the staff salaries to fulfill this need are not within our available budgets.
Juan – DC Leadership Scholarship/Las Vegas – How do we better inform students about the CAA Scholarships to better improve the number of students applying for the scholarship?
Answer – Scholarships are creating some new collateral to help with the promotion of the scholarships. Chapters can help by working with CAA to staff college fairs in their area through the YES Berkeley! Student Recruitment program and hand out these flyers to students.
Scholarships is also building relationships with the major school districts and with college counselors at major high schools to distribute this information at that level too. Alumni Chapter can also play a pivotal role in the outreach efforts with schools.
Last Edited MU 10/31/2013
Notes from 10/22:
Nancy L (Marin):
If the District Chair doesn't want to play nice, CAA should step in and assure a common commitment to the same program.
Answer – Yes, covered in answer to Jack’s question on 10/21.
I think CAA should create better collateral for the Leadership award so chapters and Scholarship district folks can contact every HS in their area to get the BEST applicants for the Leadership award. Kids need to
understand this is a LEADERSHIP award. Student body Presidents should apply even if they don't qualify for financial aid. We want the BEST of the BEST to get the Leadership award.
Answer – Also discussed on 10/21 – see answer from Juan’s question. Additionally, these collateral pieces will help to better brand these scholarships accordingly regarding need based vs. merit based.
one more idea - add a "disclosure" to the Leadership award winner statement that the awardees phone number and email WILL be made available to specific CAA Scholarship District and Chapter representatives to allow the chapters to congratulate and fete local winners
Answer – this is something we can look into building out – it would have to be an in” policy vs. an “opt-out” policy to stay in line with CAA’s current data management policy.
Dave Timmons (DC):
For larger clubs, should we consider our own 501c3 to create scholarship, or use donor advisory privilege option on current endowment to ensure geographic representation?
Answer – the setting up of a separate 501c3 is an option if the chapter wants to be able to give out their own tax deductible receipts and manage their own scholarship application, selection, and awarding process. We do want to emphasize the amount of work that is involved with the administration of a scholarship and of a 501c3.
We are happy to talk with chapters about the “terms” associated with the matching of the local scholarship endowment housed with CAA to ensure that these “terms” align with the local alumni preferences. Please note – some endowment “terms” are not ones we can change. Contact Matt to continue the conversation.
Last Edited MU 10/31/2013 Freddie R. (Colorado):
Can some scholarships be set aside for the regions across the country, to get representation across the country?
Answer – The “matching” of local scholarships is dependent on the pool of finalists. Local representation in that pool is based on the number of local applicants and how many of those applicants move to finalists, then to recipients of the scholarship.
One outcome of the solution we are looking to find here is how we can provide some local representation and awarding of scholarships while also maintaining the equitable process of the national pool of applicants. General Notes
Honorarium Idea
Many seemed interested in the Honorarium idea that was presented at the Alumni Chapter Leadership Conference – would like to get more information on it and consider it as another option to helping with the Scholarship volunteer opportunities already in place.
See next page for more information on Honorarium idea.
More Info about 2006 Pension Plan Act
Here's a link to the 2006 Pension Plan act. Most of the information pertaining to scholarships is in Title XII - under charitable giving and donor-advised funds.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-109publ280/pdf/PLAW-109publ280.pdf
I am also providing you with a link to help decipher some of the language from the above document:
Last Edited MU 10/31/2013
General Framework of Honorarium
So far we have determined that operationally, CAA can support and manage this Honorarium. We would still need to speak with our Tax Attorney and work with the chapters who are interested in participating to work out some of the details listed below.
This idea is still in the introductory phases of discussion – PLEASE let us know if you would like us to proceed with this idea OR if you have any other suggestions on how to improve it. You can send any messages directly to Matt at [email protected]
Tax deduction - CAA will need to speak with our Tax Attorney about how to best position and design the Honorarium in regards to:
Whether the donor will receive a tax deductible receipt or not. Whether the student will be taxed on the gift or not.
Minimum threshold of gift – still to be determined – we want to make sure the dollar amount is of
significance to the student while also being obtainable for the local chapter to fundraise. The dollar amount per student Honorarium cannot exceed the value of the Leadership Award - $2500.
Awarding process – depending on the gift threshold and the amount fundraised by the chapter, a certain number of honorariums would be available to local students. CAA would award these Honorariums to the local students who were finalists but who did not receive the CAA Leadership Award
Naming – CAA will work on a standard naming template – it would likely need to include the word Honorarium vs. Scholarship.
Awarding Example:
Chapter fundraises $3500 by predetermined cut-off date. Honorarium threshold amount is set at $1000 per student.
There were 4 students in your “area” that did not receive the Leadership Award
CAA selects the top ranking of those 3 students to receive the local $1000 Honorarium.
CAA cuts 3 checks for $1000 each and provides to the students – CAA can work with chapter to determine best delivery method and messaging to the student.
