The SAS 2018 Strategic Fund

Play a Role in the Future of Your Society Today!

 

A letter from SAS Past-President Ian Lewis:

 

When I started my role on the Executive Committee in 2013, it became clear to me that I would not be able to follow-up on all of the activities that I outlined in my "campaign manifesto" in the 2012 SAS presidential election. The main reasons were that (1) the Society's finances were under significant stress and (2) the Society had not developed a strategic fund to support new initiatives.

 

Over the past two years, the EC team has taken actions to address the financial stress. These include creating an investment fund (which generated several thousand dollars of income in 2014), investing in our Spectroscopy Marketplace that has paid back its start-up investment, and creating a marketing fund for the Society, which has already generated a return. In addition, we have made difficult cuts to our operating budget and internal systems, including moving to a home office in 2014, changes to our membership systems, and establishment of new budgetary categories to allow us to better understand our expenses. We have conducted major updates to our by-laws to clarify how the Society operates and we have engaged Regional, Technical, and Student sections to increase grassroots support for the Society. Some of these activities are visible to the general membership and some will become more transparent over the coming year including website and journal changes, and the Society's SAS 2020 initiative. I could go on, but these last few years and the next two will be looked back upon and characterized as years of proactive change.

 

Despite these changes and the many committed volunteers leading our committees, I believed we would benefit from a strategic fund that can be annually purposed to realize the vision of the incoming Society president (and backed by a majority of our members via the electoral process). Therefore, in one of my last acts as President, I received backing from the EC for my proposal to form a 2018 Strategic Fund and to institute a funding drive to capitalize it. The fund is held separately from our other accounts (in a Vanguard Windsor II mutual fund established by our treasurer, Bruce Chase) and will be allowed to grow from its inception to 2018.

 

In 2018, growth from the original capital (the corpus) will become available to the then-Society President to invest in activities for the benefit of the Society and its members. By establishing a fund where only the income is available to spend, the Society will have a fund that is there for the long haul.

 

I hope that donations by today's spectroscopists will benefit future generations of spectroscopists. The initial timing of the fund will allow it to align with the SAS 2020 initiative for the Society and allow for preparatory activities in 2018 and 2019 in support of 2020 activities. Current President Diane Parry conducted a first meeting on the Society's SAS 2020 initiave to create a strategic plan for the society at Pittcon 2015. For more information please call the SAS Office at 301-694-8122 or email the SAS office. As I noted in my President's reflection piece in December's Applied Spectroscopy when this fund was originally announced, the goal for the fund is to reach a level of $100,000 by 2018. I am happy to say that the 2014 EC donated the first $1500 in 2014 to start this fund and we have received more notices of incoming funds from committee members. Now it is your turn! The Society is a 501(c)(3) organization, and your donations to the Society are tax deductible.1

 

Whether you can afford to make a $10, $100, or a $10,000 donation, these funds will help support the Society for years to come. Please consider pledging a donation to your Society's "SAS 2018 Strategic Fund"— Your Society Needs You!

 

Ian R. Lewis SAS President 2014

 

1Donations to the Society are deductible in the United States to the full extent allowed by law.