MAY 2005 ISSUE
APEGGA EDUCATION FOUNDATION
Foundation Completes Great Year – But More Support Needed
BY DENNIS BROOKS, P.ENG., P.GEOPH.
Education Foundation Columnist
My column has been missing for a number of issues, partly because of space shortages in The PEGG, and partly because of my time. So we’ll do some catch-up here.
The April issue was to have contained the annual report of our outgoing President Norman Orr, P.Eng. It appears in this issue instead, on the bottom of this page, along with a statement of our operations and net assets.
A month ago, I didn’t have much to write about nor time to do it. However, that has changed on both counts.
On March 21, your foundation held its Annual General Meeting by video conference between the Calgary and Edmonton APEGGA offices. That resulted in the election of your new foundation board:
President
Connie Parenteau, P.Eng.
Vice-President
Andy Gilliland, P.Eng.
Secretary Treasurer
Dr. Ron Lawson, P.Eng. (re-appointed)
Other board directors are:
Dr. David Devenny, P.Eng., P.Geol.
Alice Payne, P.Geol. (re-appointed)
Dr. “Raj” Rajan, P.Eng.
Phil Shum, (re-appointed)
Ashok Sehgal, P.Eng.
Some of you will recognize names. Dr. Devenny is a former APEGGA president, and Mr. Gilliland is a former member of APEGGA Council. Both Dr. Rajan and Mr. Sehgal are former officers on our APEGGA Education Foundation Board. It is nice to see this kind of dedication.
Outgoing officers are Past-President Norm Orr, P.Eng., Tony Howard, P.Eng., J.D. Hole, P.Eng., and Gerry DeSorcy, P.Eng. They received a vote of thanks at the meeting but deserve one from all supporters of this important foundation.
Financial Reports
The audited statements (click here) show that voluntary contributions were $88,913 in 2004, the highest we’ve ever achieved. A mail-out campaign was re-instituted last fall to reach life members and, notwithstanding the mailing expense, was a big success.
This still just amounts to about $2.25 per member average. For a membership based charity (i.e. we have few other viable fundraisers beyond direct appeals to members for donations), we should strive for something greater than that. We get regular and strong support from a number of members; what we need is a broader base in the membership.
Assets by year end were nearly $600,000. Scholarships awarded were $65,243, which is about 20 per cent greater than last year. As all new and increased scholarships kick-in, this will be quite a bit higher in future years. All in all, it has been a good year.
Other Board Business
Terms of reference for our new Centennial Scholarship are now drafted and were discussed by the board at its April meeting, after PEGG deadline. It will be a tight squeeze for time, but the aim is to have the scholarship this year.
The contract for the Bank of Montreal affinity card has been signed by your foundation and APEGGA (since the Association’s name is in our title). Your foundation will receive between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent of charges made by members who enlist. The bank will bear all costs of marketing.
We hope members of APEGGA will be moved to support this initiative when they receive promotion material from the bank. Note, though, that it is entirely voluntary.
The board has been made aware of an expectation that the Alberta Government will include provisions for matching endowment monies going to scholarships. The details will be in the regulations attached to the first bill now going through the legislature. Two board members have been tasked with following this up.
A similar provision happened on the occasion of the province’s 50th anniversary and resulted in endowment of some of our scholarships at the universities of Alberta and Calgary. With our foundation sitting on $600,000 in the bank, there may be an opportunity here to get a big bang for our buck!