Page 21 - January 2023 Report

Resilience
Grant Program Committee meeting minutes (draft) (3)
6. Organizational matters a. Mission Statement
A proposed revision of the Foundation’s mission statement had been circulated. The revised Mission statement recommendation comes from the collaborative effort of Program Consultants and Staff. During the discussion, there was agreement that the revision is an improvement but still needs work. A Board retreat would be an appropriate setting for this, and it was proposed that one be planned in December 2023. The Mission Statement will remain unchanged until that time.
b. Grantmaking Strategies
A proposed strategy statement as well as the current strategy documents for the 3 focus areas had been circulated. Program Consultants and Staff worked to combine the 3 separate strategy statements into a single strategy statement per the Board Chair recommendation that JSF strategy: 1) be clear and literal, 2) relate to the theory of change, 3) set out how the foundation purposes to achieve this, and 4) inform the Grant Program Committee in its decisions. After a brief discussion, the Committee agreed the revision should replace the 3 current strategy documents, though the statement may be revised further at the retreat.
The Committee agreed to replace the 3 current strategy documents with a proposed revised strategy statement, effective immediately. Both the Mission Statement and Strategy Statement will be revisited at a Board retreat, which will be held on Sunday, December 3, in Palm Beach.
c. Endowment policy and procedures
A list of all 31 endowments JSF had helped create, a proposed endowment policy and proposed procedure had been circulated. In September, the Committee directed staff and the Indigenous Peoples consultant to draft a strategy to steward the endowment agreements at tribal colleges and universities and Native-serving institutions with JSF endowments. The resulting policy was written in such a way that it not only accomplishes this but also could guide JSF’s endowments in other program areas.
A suggestion was made that in addition to the information in the endowment spreadsheet, it would be helpful to see the current status of each of the endowments and what is being done about them. The list should be brought to the Committee once a year. It was noted that efforts have been made to make reporting more structured at the tribal colleges and universities with endowments. A question was raised whether the same structure will be applied to all endowments. Staff and consultants have not yet discussed this.
The Committee decided to recommend the endowment policy to the Board for approval at its March 2023 meeting and directed that an endowment report be presented to the Grant Program Committee annually.
d. CEO goals
A list of 2023 goals for the CEO had been circulated. In response to recommendations made in September, the goals have been made more quantifiable. During the discussion, it was suggested that the goals include holding a retreat and to begin succession planning for a lead staff member for Programs. Committee members were encouraged to contact Bobby with any additional suggestions. The goals will be presented to the Board in March.
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