"No Strings"-- Funding the Alumni Treasury

A previous discussion thread raised the issue of alumni communication and the use of College resources. Your elected Executive Committee responded to a denial by the College to support our communication to all alumni, as briefly explained here.

All members of the Executive Committee recently received a copy of the following letter, addressed to the Secretary-Treasurer of your Association.


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Timothy A. Dreisbach
119 Morgan Road, South Royalton VT 05068

24 July 2007

Mr. David Spalding
Secretary-Treasurer, Dartmouth Association of Alumni
c/o Blunt Hall, Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755

Dear David:

People have expressed concerns about third parties spending money to influence alumni without public disclosure of their activity. There should be similar concerns about the College using the power of the purse to control how the alumni’s elected representatives communicate with their members and represent those interests. Having the Association cover and openly report on its expenses, with financial support coming both from the College and from other individuals or groups, appears a proper balance between these two alternatives.

It is understandable that the College only spends its money as it wishes; that is its right. What upsets me is the Alumni Relations office not giving access to mail lists that would cost nothing additional, including email lists that were provided for use by the prior Executive Committee but are now denied. It is disconcerting to find that even changes to content on our Association web site, which you (wearing your other hat as Dartmouth VP Alumni Relations) once described to me as “maintained by the College as a convenience for the alumni” are also subject to review and veto by College staff.

Enclosed is a personal check in the amount of $xxx that I am donating to our Association. As you know, our alumni constitution requires that we members of the Executive Committee be responsible for “the general interests of the Association [being the alumni], including the raising and expending of money to meet current expenses”. I wish that this sum be deposited in a general account of the treasury, and used to cover Association expenses as determined by the Executive Committee. As we recently decided to communicate by a letter to our members, and the College refused to support that effort, I expect my donation will be applied to help cover the expenses of that mailing.

Further this donation will hopefully serve as an example for other alumni to donate as well. As you know, the Association has opened PO Box 525 in Hanover (03755) to receive feedback from that letter and correspondence in general; if checks made out to the Association are received there, they will be forwarded to you for deposit in our treasury. No longer shall the treasurer’s report be “there is nothing to report because we have no expenses and have no funds.”

As a committee member, I do not believe we should be declaring “financial independence” from the College, as their support to cover Association activities such as trustee and officer elections is necessary and of mutual benefit. But as we have seen, the College is unwilling to fund other efforts deemed by the Association leadership to have high priority. Accordingly, I suggest you consider partitioning our accounts, and the expenses being reported, into two categories… those of a “restricted nature” as contributed by the College, and those freely given for general use.

This donation may not be tax deductible, as we are today not incorporated as a tax-exempt organization. I would appreciate if you could advise as to the requirements of establishing such status. In the interim, I suppose others wishing to donate can do so without such regard as I have done, or will consider making donations to other exempt organizations with a stipulation that those in turn help reimburse our expenses; I believe we can accept such monies in good faith, so long as there are no “strings attached” that would in any way compromise the interests of our members. This should be true without regard as to whether it is the College or other parties who provide the funds.

Sincerely, for Dartmouth alumni and hence for Dartmouth,




Tim Dreisbach ‘71
Executive Committee Member

Enc: Personal Check

Alumni Blog Open to All Alumni

In the past, this blogsite has provided an mechanism for the alumni's elected Executive Commmittee to post news deemed important to alumni, as it relates to your Association. While anyone can comment in reply, it has not been possible for you to post your own topics that you feel merit thoughtful discussion among your peers.

Your Executive Committee is exploring alternatives with the hope of providing a true discussion forum open to all. On an interim basis, one member is willing to receive your desired posts and place them up here for you. Please send any new discussion threads via email to timdreisbach@gmail.com. Include the topical headline, the text message of up to 500 words, your name and class. I will do my best to post them in a timely manner.

This is an interim "patch" and not a final solution. Let's all consider it a trial. The volume is likely to be minimal to start, but my apologies in advance if I do not always get your posting up as quickly as you want. While the blog does permit anonymous posters, only those who provide their name will be taken seriously enough to merit their own titled discussion thread.

Let's see how it goes. More later on a "real" discussion forum with better features that will enhance communication among our alumni members.

Tim Dreisbach '71

Communication and Use of College Resources

The following was the response to the request made by the AOA Executive Committee (following a majority vote) to Alumni Relations to both fund the mailing of a hard-copy letter to all alumni and to distribute that letter electronically to all alumni who have e-mail:


July 6, 2007

Mr. William L. Hutchinson
P. O. Box 701
Nantucket, MA 02554-0701

Dear Bill,

I am writing today in response to the resolutions passed on Tuesday night regarding the Alumni Association's request for funding and resources to communicate with alumni about the review being undertaken by the Governance Committee of the Board of Trustees.

The Board has made clear that it is committed to considering the views of alumni as part of its review. As a first step, Ed Haldeman, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, sent a personal letter to alumni on June 8, the day that this review was initiated, informing alumni of the reasons for and the goals of the review. The College also established a website at <http://www.dartmouth.edu/governancefeedback> and issued a press release publicizing the site so that alumni would be encouraged to provide feedback. The online feedback process was reinforced in two separate "Speaking of Dartmouth" emails sent to all alumni. These emails included a direct link for easy access to the feedback site. Many alumni have already gone to the website and provided their thoughts and comments on the issues under review by the Governance Committee. Ed will be sending a communication to all alumni early next week.

In addition, the Committee is actively soliciting the views of trustees, emeritus trustees, and alumni leaders, as well as gathering information on best practices followed by other educational institutions and non-profit institutions.

In short, a number of steps have already been taken and mechanisms are in place to keep alumni up-to-date about the governance review and to solicit alumni views on this matter - and these measures appear to be working effectively. I discussed this with Ed Haldeman and Jim Wright. Given the various efforts underway, we do not believe that separate and duplicative communications from the Alumni Association are necessary.

Thanks again for your interest in this issue.

Sincerely,

David Spalding