Meeting Minutes 07/27/08
Attendees: Anshu, Caroline, Gaurav, Murali, Rahul,
1. Presentation to Sooch
Foundation representatives -Gaurav and Murali
* High-level overview of Asha-Austin, its mode of operation, projects (number, issues addressed and locations)
* Reasoning behind Fellowship program, brief description of Asha-Austin fellow:
Nandalal Master and his initiatives
* Sooch foundation is a philanthropic venture of the founder
of Silicon Labs, which works on supporting projects in
2. Right to Education Campaign - Gaurav
http://www.ashanet.org/
-Objectives are to understand the context of the RTE bill and support it through various means (campaigning, petitions, etc.)
-In 2002,
education was made into a fundamental right as part of the consitution
-Draft Model Right to Education Bill was circulated in 2006, based on the
original draft by CABE
-Though there are many schools started by the govt in India, there is often a lack of other resources like teachers, teaching materials, etc.This bill makes specific govt bodies/officials accountable to provide a quality neighborhood school (defined as within 1 km) to all kids
-The bill will be discussed in the parliament at the cabinet meeting on 31st July 2008. However there are still some points of contention
- Local
chapters can help support the introduction of the Bill by signing a petition
at: http://www.ashanet.org/
-Once the Bill is tabled on July 31st, chapters can also help with campaigning and writing to MPs, etc.
3.Vote on
ARC proposal on planned disbursal of the general funds pool-Arun
Link 1
Link 2:
-3 options to
disburse $600,000 of approx $1 million. The remaining $400,000 will be
maintained for admin expenses,cc processing, etc. 10%
of $600,000 for emergency relief purposes
- Matching funds for WAH 2008 willl come from the
remaining $400,000.
-Option One: Disburse general funds among all chapters equally.
-Option Two: Support innovative, large scale projects or chapters experiencing funding shorftall for currently funded projects in a 60:40 ratio.
-Option three: 10% emergency relief, 20% innovative large scale projects, 70% divided equally among chapters
-Emergency relief will be reviewed in the same way as regular projects. General funds group responsible for administering the funds.
-If specific fundraising efforts are organized for an emergency, the general funds will not be used for that.
-Can be used only if we have an existing relationship with an NGO or an Asha fellow.
ARC vote deadline on 27 Aug 2008
Questions:
In options 2 and 3, how do chapters get to have a say in deciding what constitutes an innovative project?
When emergency funds are depleted, does it get replenished?
4. Sooch Foundation – Caroline
- Foundation set
by Nav Sooch, an
Indian-American; has 2 paid staff in Austin
- 2/3rds of funds go to Austin projects, all in education for low-income groups
- Also fund several groups in India: ASSET India in Chennai, an orphanage in
Ranchi etc
- Look at collaborating in multiple ways: funding, projects, exchanging ideas
4. WAH updates – Gaurav
- Asha-wide target is 200k
- We need to raise around 6k, need to do publicity
- Publicity ideas: web banner, email signatures, handing out fliers at events, talk to UT special ed folks (Shubhonti), handouts,
- Action Item: send out the email flyer