Member Center

Donate OnLine

Committees of VGIF

The work of the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund is conducted primarily by volunteer committees and the VGIF Board of Directors. VGIF Board and committee members donate their services to the organization with no recompense for time, travel or expenses incurred in the operation of their respective committees. VGIF maintains a small office in New York City that is funded by a generous endowment from one our members. This endowment also pays for the services of our indispensable Executive Director, Fay Kittelson.

Committees and Board meet biannually in October and April in New York City to conduct the business of the organization. All contributing and prospective members are invited to attend. Please check the dates of the coming meetings on the VGIF Calendar.

Committee Reports are submitted online after each meeting and after individual committee meetings as interim reports. Contact vgif@vgif.org to obtain the URL and password.

Minutes from the Annual Meeting are available after the Annual Meeting in April.

New committee members are always needed. Please contact vgif@vgif.org with your area of interest and expertise.

VGIF Officers

The Officers of the Corporation are: a President, two or more Vice Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer and such other Officers as the Board of Directors determine. Officers are the representatives of the membership and are elected by them, with the exception of the Convener of the Project Grants Committee, who is appointed by the President to serve as Second Vice President.

Standing Committees

Constitution and Bylaws
The Constitution and Bylaws committee maintains the files of current Bylaws, Board Policy Sheet and Working Rules for all committees; reviews for approval and recommendations with the Board of Directors the proposed amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws and/or Board Policy Sheet; corrects Bylaws after action taken at the Annual Meeting.

Development
The Development Committee supports the mission and vision of the organization by planning fund development and identifying funding opportunities from major donors, foundations, and other sources. This committee also engages member donors in support of the organization and its annual grants program. The committee is guided by the VGIF Strategic Plan and the Board of Directors.

The Development Committee facilitates the work of the organization in planning for fund development and searching out sources of funding from major donors, foundations, business and governmental agencies and recruiting new contributing members and retaining the current membership.

Finance and Investment
The Finance Committee gives advice on all VGIF financial policy and administration; supervises the investment of its funds; reviews and evaluates portfolio statements as prepared by the financial advisor; prepares an annual budget for the approval of the Board of Directors; is responsible for ensuring that the expenditure of VGIF funds remains within the terms of the budget approved by the Board of Directors; works with other committees, such as membership development, to consider alternative methods of fundraising. The Finance Committee, along with a member of the Board, is responsible for reviewing the audit and recommending its approval to the full Board.

United Nations
VGIF is associated at the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in consultative status to ECOSOC and in association with Department of Public Information (DPI). As such VGIF can have 5 representatives in New York in addition to the President. NGOs are expected to disseminate as effectively as possible information about the UN among its members. This VGIF does through a column in the VGIF Update. >> learn more

Nominating
The Nominating Committee shall present the slate of nominees for Officers, except for the Second Vice President, and members of the Board of Directors to the Secretary sixty (60) days prior to the Annual Meeting.

The members of the Nominating Committee consider the following factors when preparing the slate: qualifications for the position under consideration; nominations submitted by the Membership; nominations from committee members; review of achievements of current board and committee members; leads to potential leaders among other members; potential member information; review of “History of Service” files; review of form letters to be sent to potential candidates.

Project Grants
The Project Grants Committee is responsible for determining how the funds of the organization will be disbursed for the year. Project Grants applications are submitted online to the committee by October 15, 2012. From October to March, the Project Grants Committee makse a selection of appropriate applications to be submitted to the VGIF Board of Directors for approval at the April Annual Meeting.

Special Committees (as of April 2012)

Communications and Information Technology Coordinator
The Website and Information Technology Coordinator coordinates and manages the web sites; maintains the online Project Grants Library; creates and maintains the programming and interface for the Projects Grants applications process online.

She provides technical support for the information technology used by VGIF staff.

The Coordinator ensures that the work of VGIF can continue in times of crises whether the cause be from illness of our Board, Committee members or office staff or a physical disaster such as fire, an act of terrorism or causes of nature.