EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Washington, D. C.
October 4, 2015
Every fall, the Executive Committee of the 17³Ô¹ÏBoard of Trustees meets to conduct business on behalf of the larger Board, especially matters that have arisen since the full Board of Trustees meeting in the spring. Most important, the Executive Committee receives a report from the 17³Ô¹ÏTreasurer that summarizes how ASOR’s finances fared during the recently ended fiscal year. In this case, 17³Ô¹ÏTreasurer presented the Executive Committee with a report on ASOR’s financial picture for Fiscal Year 2015, which ended June 30, 2015.
I am pleased to report that the financial news is very good. While the final figures are not yet in (we are waiting for the results of our FY 2015 audit), 17³Ô¹Ïended the year with a net income of about $18,000, far better than the $1,300 that we were projecting when the Board reviewed the FY 2015 budget in April. ASOR’s investments accounts – the Fellowship Accounts and the Endowment Accounts – also performed well during FY 2015, with our Fellowship Accounts posting a gain of 5.8% and the Endowment Accounts posting a gain of 5.4%. Overall, the total market value of our investment accounts showed a 7.12% increase.
The Executive Committee also heard the very good news that ASOR’s one-year cooperative agreement with the U. S. Department of State had been extended for a second year, and that the previous year’s funding of $750,000 had been increased to $900,000. This extension, and the enhanced funding, will allow the program, now known as ASOR’s Cultural Heritage Initiatives—Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq, to continue its work of documenting comprehensively the current condition of cultural heritage sites in Syria and portions of Iraq; to assess future restoration, preservation, and protection needs; and to raise global awareness of the threats to cultural heritage while also implementing future projects and providing immediate assistance within the region.
In addition, the Executive Committee heard a report about a National Endowment for the Humanities grant of $30,000 that has been jointly awarded to 17³Ô¹Ïand the AIA. The purpose of this grant is to help fund a two-day conference on December 10-11 in Washington, D.C., which will bring together different organizations that, like ASOR, are working on issues concerning cultural heritage in Syria and northern Iraq, to ask how we might encourage collaboration among these organizations and direct our efforts so that we best complement (rather than duplicate) each other’s work.
The Executive Committee was also able to discuss some new 17³Ô¹Ïinitiatives: for example, plans for the redesign of the 17³Ô¹Ïwebsite. In addition, the Executive Committee met with members of the 17³Ô¹ÏStrategic Planning Task Force to discuss the Task Force’s progress in crafting a Strategic Plan for 17³Ô¹Ïfor 2016-2020 (building on our current Strategic Plan, which covers the period 2011-2015). The Strategic Planning Task Force expects to have more to report on its progress in November, both to the 17³Ô¹ÏBoard of Trustees and to the membership at large. Stay tuned!