Page 32 - 2024 January report

GRANT PROGRAM COMMITTEE MINUTES (DRAFT)
DECEMBER 2, 2023
Members Present: Others Present:
Bea Awoniyi, Sherry Salway Black, David Blaikie, William Corwin, I. King Jordan, Jr., Richard Krause, Robert Krause (non-voting), Malcolm Macleod (via Zoom), Mike Miller (via Zoom)
Hugh Brown, Hannah Deadman-Arnst, Lady Hereford, Tommy Pence, Lowell Weiss, Sharon Wood
Malcolm chaired the meeting.
1. September 2023 meeting minutes
The minutes of the Committee’s September 2023 meeting had been circulated and were approved with 2 corrections. On page 3, the word “grant” was erroneously included twice in the same sentence. On page 9, the number of Arizona’s tribal nations is 22 instead of 17.
2. Business arising from the minutes/Program reports
In September, the Committee directed staff to engage with the leadership of Elevation Scholars to determine whether JSF might use the same dollars to better support the organization. In a follow-up conversation, Elevation Scholars President Scott Lee advised that the grant as approved would be the best way to support the organization.
A question was asked about the status the UPS scholarships. A report showing the number of scholarships awarded each year since 1992 had been circulated. Over the past several years, the number of new applicants and renewing students has declined while JSF’s required distribution to the program has increased. As a result, students in the program have received bonus awards in addition to their scholarships since 2021. The number of students did increase, however, from 36 in 2022 to 52 in 2023. Staff has been in touch with the contact person at UPS, Valerie Olude, who admitted the scholarship has not been as well promoted within the organization as it used to be. She cited changes in the management structure and other issues. She has outlined steps that are being taken, and staff will follow up with her in January when the application window opens. Also, a suggestion was made that UPS may no longer wish to continue with JSF’s program. However, determining this might require speaking to someone with a higher-level position than Valerie’s. One possible reason for the lack of interest is that drivers recently received significant pay increases after they threatened to go on strike. Perhaps their children do not need scholarships. However, it is unclear if other employees who are not drivers will also receive pay hikes.
A question about Scholarship America’s involvement was also raised. When the agreement was first made, permission had to be obtained from the IRS and a third party was required to administer the scholarships. Scholarship America serves in that role. It was noted that a few years ago, a survey showed that many of the scholarship programs administered by Scholarship America go to families with high net worth. There was consensus that this topic should be added to the agenda for the next day’s Board Retreat.
3. Discretionary and Matching grants
a. The following Director Discretionary Grants were unanimously approved:
• Nkwusm Salish Language School
• Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre • Oakville Community Foundation
• Santa Fe College Foundation
• The Academy at Charlemont
• Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech • Providence St. Mel School
$25,000 $25,000 $25,000 $ 5,000 $ 2,500 $ 2,500 $ 2,500
Page 30 January Report