Page 25 - 2024 October

GRANT PROGRAM COMMITTEE MINUTES (3)
7.
One possibility would be for JSF to award an expenditure responsibility grant, which is a way a charitable foundation can award a grant to an organization without tax-exempt status. The process is detailed and can be costly, however. Waiting for the school and its foundation to regain its status is more prudent. Tommy reminded the Committee that the situation didn’t happen overnight and won’t be remedied overnight. A status update will be provided in December.
d. Mission Statement
A document containing JSF’s current mission statement, the vision statement approved in March 2024, a proposed mission statement and a proposed strategy statement had been circulated. Because this is a Board matter, it was provided to the Committee for information and discussion only.
Much of the discussion focused on the word “disadvantaged.” A suggestion was made to change “disadvantaged people” to “people who are disadvantaged.” There was more acceptance of the wording from the strategy statement: “JSF provides funding and other support to nonprofits effectively addressing barriers to education faced by Indigenous Peoples, individuals with disabilities and individuals with financial need.” It was suggested that eliminating the word “disadvantaged” from the mission statement and pairing it with the strategy statement could accomplish the same goal. This led to a discussion about the term Indigenous Peoples. Perhaps Indigenous Peoples of North America is a more accurate term.
The Committee was asked whether the word “disadvantaged” should be excluded from the mission statement. Four were in favor. Asked whether the term should be replaced with “people who face disadvantages or barriers,” five were in favor. Asked whether the mission statement should be paired with the strategy statement, nine were in favor.
Malcolm and Bobby committed to drafting a revised version for Board consideration.
Budget Items
The following items had been circulated: The 2024 Grant Distribution Plan and 5-year projections including changes to the distributions to UPS, Northwest Indian College and the three grants under consideration at this meeting; and the 2024 Grant Distribution Plan and 5-year projections as currently budgeted. Both versions of the documents reflected a reduction to the 2024 Grant Distribution Requirement as a result of a taxable gain from Adage Capital Partners, L.P. in 2023. Pending approval of the applications under consideration later in the meeting, JSF will be on track to meet the GDR of approximately $9.4 million while remaining comfortably over budget by about $25,000.
A question was asked about whether finding good grants in the disability area has been a challenge. While JSF is closer to reaching the target for disability this year, there have been fewer qualified candidates in that area. In the coming years, some of the employment-related grants will conclude, leaving more of a gap to fill. Also, there was discussion about the impact of the UPS change going forward. Although this year there was a significant cost savings of more than $500,000, that was partly due to carryover funding held by Scholarship America for the UPS program. Going forward, the savings could be in the $100,000 to $150,000 range. For the purpose of the 5-year projections, the full calculated amount for UPS was included. Bobby recommended modifying the 5-year Grant Distribution Plan and projections to reflect anticipated UPS funding for 2025-2028.
The Committee approved the 2024 Grant Distribution Plan and the 5-Year Projections with the changes as presented, including the proposed modification for anticipated UPS funding.
Education / A Powerful force for change Page 23