Thanks to everyone for a good 44net community call! - 44net

11 Oct 2020


      Thanks to everyone who participated in today's online meeting!
Sorry about the glitches at the beginning. Jitsi was giving us problems
(frozen or long-delayed video, etc) so I made the call to switch to
Zoom. We regularly use zoom internally within ARDC for Board and Grant
Advisory Committee meetings and it has performed well; it also seemed to
work well today.
Thanks for all the helpful comments and suggestions on our grantmaking
activities. I invite everyone interested in ARDC and its mission to
further amateur radio and related digital technologies to continue to
make your helpful thoughts and suggestions known and to consider
becoming more involved.
But I want to reiterate: you might think that giving money away is the
easiest thing in the world. It's not! (I keep thinking of the old
Badfinger song, "Come and Get It!") It's surprisingly hard work to do it
legally, effectively and efficiently, and I think those of you on the
call today got a taste of that. Some of it is WAY too much like real
work, like managing our finances and understanding and complying with
the myriad IRS and state rules for nonprofit grant-making foundations
like ours. As we explained, we do NOT want to limit our activities to
the United States, but we have to jump through a lot of extra hoops when
making grants to organizations in other countries. But we are determined
to do this, just as we are determined to eventually give grants to
individuals and groups that aren't formal charities.
The terms of our IP address sale required an NDA (Non-Disclosure
Agreement) that kept many details confidential for a time. We didn't
like it, but there would have been no sale without it. Now that our 2019
tax returns and financial audit statements are a matter of public
record, we won't have to be cagey about our finances.
Except for Rosy, our executive director, and Chris, our 44net support
guy, all of us are doing this as volunteers. Rosy has really hit the
ground running in her new position, working with prospective grantees,
politely reminding the rest of us of our action items and in general
keeping things running smoothly. We do anticipate getting additional
paid help as our work expands.
Our treasurer, Bdale Garbee, NB0G, has done a stellar job of managing
our finances, dealing with the regulatory and tax authorities, lawyers,
auditors, grantees and support organizations. Our endowment, which we
are conservatively managing ourselves, is split between low cost US and
international stock and bond index funds as well as short term reserves.
The reserves cover our expected expenses for the next few years. We hope
the rest will generate enough income to keep us going indefinitely, but
that depends on the markets. Our plan right now is to grant at least US
$5 million every year.
No other amateur radio foundation has ever operated on this scale, and
we're still just getting started. Since we don't know what will pay off,
we want to cast our nets broadly. We can afford to take risks with some
high-risk, high-reward projects knowing full well that some -- maybe
even most -- won't pan out. There's simply no other way to find out what
works.
What makes it all worthwhile is seeing the results of our work. We've
only gotten started, but the new ARISS (Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station) gear that we helped support is installed
and operational. The power supply carries a plaque memorializing our
founder, Brian Kantor WB6CYT, and his family was delighted to see the
pictures. And I've just been going through the thank-you cards and
letters (56 at last count) we've received from this year's recipients of
ARRL Foundation scholarships.
Back to where it all began -- the 44 net -- we invite suggestions on how
it should evolve and expand. We certainly have the money to support a
solid and growing infrastructure.
So...we're just getting started!
73, Phil Karn, KA9Q
ARDC President