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Entering the New Millennium

“Considering the ESA Foundation’s Past”

(Part I)

By Verneene Forssberg

As we enter the new millennium, it is a time for reflection. One thousand years has past us by and we are now entering an era of the 21st century that is more exciting than ever before. What new potentials lie ahead of us as we forge into the unknown? Judging from how we have scratched the surface on so many new possibilities, I’m here to tell you that I believe we have “wondrous” things ahead of us. As members of the ESA Foundation and ESA International are we truly prepared to face what is ahead of us? Or are we going to remain stagnate in our ways and unreceptive to a vast untapped potential of our future? What is the legacy that we will leave behind on January 1, 2000? I guess only time will answer those questions, but if I am any judge of character I believe the venturesome natures of our souls will get the better of us. ESA in any form cannot resist a challenge.

For my purposes I would like to reserve my comments to the ESA Foundation and what its potential is for the new millennium. This will be Part I of a three-part series. First I’ll give you a little history followed by commentary on the present activities and last how all this will catapult the ESA Foundation into the 21st century. “Indeed,” these are very exciting times for us.

We have many sisters of ESA that are charter members of the ESA Foundation. Our charter dates back to 1970. Although the concept of the Foundation was good, it garnered a slow start. The membership of any organization is driven, maintained, and developed by the mission it seeks to fulfill and the Foundation was no exception. We are all aware that the Foundation is a 501(C) 3 organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service giving us tax exemption. We are a “nonprofit” organization and cannot be “self serving” in any way. Over the years this has always been a source of confusion to the membership, as the ESA International is a 501(C) 4 which means it is a “for profit” organization and it can be “self serving.” Member chapters and individual members of the Foundation can filter their charitable donations through the Foundation in the form of Grants in order to protect the tax-exempt status of their fund raising. These are called the Turn Around Funds.

The early years were filled with struggles to find an identity that met the needs of our mission. Starting with trying to design and construct a building to house the Foundation and its operations under the name of ESA World Center Foundation, the basic premise was to be a conduit in which businesses and individuals who were not members of ESA could donate their charitable giving. From there it branched its mission to accepting projects supporting the American Cancer Society, CARE, and a St Jude Children’s Research Hospital fellowship.

The Foundation was beginning to find its place after its first decade. It adopted the ADAPT Program as a project, sold the Foundation building, and headed for a new future. The building had not been a sound investment but the Directors would not be deterred from their progressive thinking.

Seeking to serve the needs of its members, the co-sponsorship program was started along with the Women Helping Women program library. However, it was the scholarship and grant program that begins to take shape and promise new and exciting things to come in the 1980s. It began with a promise of earning 10% with each endowed scholarship. This will be a promise that will come to haunt future Directors as we swing into the 1990s. Now the Board of Directors becomes active in their fiduciary responsibilities to manage the growing assets and investments of the Foundation. It had taken almost two decades to build the assets of the Foundation to a significant level.

Although the growth of assets had been rather slow, it seems to constantly increase by small measures. It was in 1995 when the Board had to take a very serious look at the Perpetual Endowment agreements. America’s economy had been suffering along with the interest rates that investments and savings were making. Interest rates dropped to a serious 1.5% and sometimes would rebound to 2%. The perpetual endowment agreement promised a 10% return and this was jeopardizing the Foundation’s ability to maintain its programs and operations. The Directors had to take a cold hard look at what had to be done if the Foundation was to remain viable. It took the steps to make the endowment program support itself with the interest earned on the investments. The scholarship program had become one of its most popular programs and this sent shock waves through the membership. The following year applications and donations dropped as adjustments were made. The membership of the Foundation demonstrated its faith in the mission of the Foundation as from this time to the present day the scholarship program as well as the Foundation’s assets will realize unprecedented growth. It was a sound decision that was to set the Foundation on the road to excellence and sound financial management.

“Considering the ESA Foundation’s Present”

(Part II: Entering the New Millennium)

The ESA Foundation is currently in a state of evolution. It has finally become the Foundation that its charter members had dreamed it would become. The most fascinating part of this reality is that its potential is still unrealized. There are miles to go, growth to be realized, potential to be taped, new programs to be developed. It is a most exciting time for the Foundation.

One of the most wonderful aspects about the Foundation’s progress is its growth of assets. Total assets have grown from $411,610 in 1995 to $708,128 in 1999. It is the Board’s fiduciary responsibility to see that these assets continue to grow and that is one whole new area that is opening up for the Foundation. Over the years we have built our endowment funds by the generous members who ask us to hold their endowment funds. It’s this trust that continues to give us the support to build these assets. These gifts will provide “forever.” A planned giving program is being developed as this is being written.

The program development of the Foundation has continued growth in three specific areas: (1) scholarship (2) grants and (3) Women Helping Women programs. Long range planning has been instrumental in meeting and planning for the needs of these programs as they continue to demonstrate progress. The Directors have developed a policy of building in a means to pay for the programs as they grow. Our programs depend upon a volunteer army of members who give of their time to maintain these programs and promote their excellence. We run it by an all-volunteer staff.

The grants which are now being established are to meet educational needs not specifically designated within the scholarship program. The Foundation has started utilizing funds that have been placed in a partially restricted fund for the purpose of supporting educational grants which may be applied for directly through the Board of Directors. The new ADAPT Grant has been initiated to activate our participation and support of auditory processing and reading development, one of the most serious problems in education today. This was a definite “change with the times” move on the part of the Board. This area of grant development is on the brink of another Foundation explosion of growth. Watch for it!

The emphasis on the Women Helping Women library has totally revised the old programs and added new programs in recent years. Additionally, the long range plan includes plans to set up a method of continuous updates for the library and the program is currently paying for itself. It was purposely set up only to pay for itself, not to make a profit. The Board has been 100% successful in this effort.

Other programs that have been established and are ready to support the efforts of the Foundation are the following: (1) Life Active Membership program (2) Extra Boost Award (3) Humanitarian Award program (4) Service Grants (5) Corporate Seminars. The Board continues to seek ways to serve human need. The fund-raising efforts are for the express purpose of supporting its programs and continue building its assets.

While serving along side of the International Council, the ESA Foundation Board of Directors has found a good partnership. The relationship between the two boards will have its highs and lows over the years but in the recent times these two boards have worked very hard to maintain positive communications. There has been a search for ways in which both can assist the other in their assigned mission for their respective memberships.

The long range plans have addressed the issue of computer upgrades and preparing for what the new millennium will bring for the Foundation and its membership. This is a Board that is looking to the future with optimism and great enthusiasm.

I hope you are ready for what I see is possible for the future of this Foundation.

“Considering the ESA Foundation’s Future”

(Part III: Entering the New Millennium)

The future of the ESA Foundation can be found in the African term “ESAMAU” or “the light yet to shine.” There are limitless possibilities for this association because of the membership’s enthusiastic and hungry appetite for “growth.” As the Foundation has taken shape over the past decade it is fairly easy to predict the areas that will emerge as focus points of that growth: building the foundation’s assets, grants, and education and leadership program development.

The Foundation’s assets have traditionally been placed in bonds. This has been a very conservative approach to protecting the assets of the Foundation. This has served the Foundation well as we built the funds and conducted the affairs of the Foundation. It meant that the Board had to depend upon the interest rates that often were fluxuating to dangerously low levels. As described previously the Foundation Board developed financial planning which promoted program growth and dependence upon its ability to pay for itself which aided in the growth of the year-end balance. Due to the solid foundation that has been established by the Board, it is now time for the Foundation to shift into a different type of investment planning which will include growth investment. The Board took the first steps to venture into the area of Investment planning with the establishment of an Endowment Committee this year. Working hard to define a planned giving program and establish an investment policy, the Board will move into the market place dividing its assets between equities and fixed income. The Board believes this action is prudent for it allows us to diversify our assets and maximize the growth of our assets.

It is a prediction that even though it will still have to live off of the interest and investment income the Foundation’s assets will reach over $1,000,000 in the next four years. Due to the change in investment planning and the increased interest from the membership to invest in the Foundation’s programs it is further predicted that in the next ten years the Foundation will be looking at $2,000,000 in assets.

Recently, the membership has noticed the announcement of new grants which the Foundation has moved to sponsor. As the assets grow so will the number and the nature of these grants. The Foundation has found a new way to answer its purpose to serve human need through such grants.

It is predicted that the ADAPT grants will become a popular way in which to support the Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. We have started with one per year and by the end of this decade we predict we will be giving no less than 5 yearly. This would account for $3000 annually.

The Board has already made a commitment to establish Educational Grants to be supported by the Life Active Membership fund. These grants will support various areas of education and training in amounts to be established by the Board. I predict that by the end of this decade the Foundation will be awarding no less than six educational grants annually. This means that our Life Active memberships will double within the next decade to support more grants. Since these grants will be for various amounts to be determined by the Board it is difficult to determine the amount given annually but it could amount up to $6000 annually depending on the interest income of the Life Active fund by the end of the decade. Should the Educational Grants spark the interest of the membership a future Board may decide to support them from other sources besides the Life Active Membership fund which would mean a considerable jump in the amount of money given in this area. This has exciting potential as the Board will continue to seek new and innovative educational projects to support.

In the area of leadership and education there are some obvious and not so obvious potentials to be realized. First, the present scholarship program that is supported by the Foundation has already reached dynamic proportions. In the last decade the Board moved to establish a process to address the growth that the program has experienced. If the program continues to grow, and we predict it will, this will be a major challenge for the Board to address. Most programs the size and scope of the Foundation’s scholarship program has a paid staff of 30 people to handle the volume of paperwork. The Foundation handles its scholarship program with a volunteer force. Currently there are over 80 endowments, most of which are active, administered by the Board with over $40,000 given annually. There is an average of five new endowments added each year. If that trend continues, and we see no reason to believe that it won’t, the Board will be administering over 130 endowments by the end of the next decade. This will mean an increase in scholarship money distributed throughout the United States and Australia. It will also mean that the Board will have to take a serious look at the administration of the scholarships to make sure it maintains its effective operation. With almost 5000 scholarship applications being processed yearly this will double by the end of the decade.

It is predicted that by the end of the next decade the ESA Foundation will be giving $100,000 annually in scholarships to students in the United States and Australia.

It is predicted that the use of the new web site for the ESA Foundation will aid in doubling the number of applications received for Foundation Scholarships. It will also bring new attention to the ESA Foundation, it programs, and good works.

Education being a primary force that drives the work of the Foundation, the Women Helping Women program will emerge into an entirely new program of assistance for the general population. We have seen this program develop into an excellent library which emphasizes topics which are of interest to women. There are several ways this can expand.

This program could expand its reach to senior citizens, men, and teens through the development of educational programs as well as information placed on the web site for people around the world to access. A specific area of emphasis will be the support groups in such areas as breast cancer, partners of Alzheimer’s patients, or grandparents raising grandchildren, etc.

The library will be expanded into topics of interest to men and teenagers. As these areas expand so will the participation of these groups in the affairs of the Foundation.

A whole new area of concern is the needs of America’s youth which could open up with the Corporate Seminar should this program ever take root. The ESA Foundation will become involved in a partnership with corporate America to develop leaders and volunteers for future generations.

If the Corporate Seminar is emphasized by the Board, it is predicted it will become a major source of support for the Foundation’s programs and grants.

The Corporate Seminar has the potential to offer the opportunity for a partnership between the International Council and ESA Headquarters should future leadership wish to pursue such a partnership.

This program will open up another program area for the Foundation of working with youth leadership training.

The future of the ESA Foundation is excellent and as we look at what could be accomplished in the 21^st century it is exciting to think about. We might not accomplish everything I’ve listed, but we certainly could if we set it up in our long range planning and elect leadership that believes in all the Foundation can accomplish by seeking areas of human need and answering that call. These ideas may take a different form, shape or direction depending upon the interests of the membership, but it gives us a large clue as to where we could go if the desire remains within our hearts to grow. All in all this bring us back to ESAMAU. The ESA Foundation is a “light yet to shine” in the 21^st century.

“ESAMAU”