Special Funds Operations

 

1) In accordance with BSCES Bylaws as amended June 14, 2004, Article 2 “The Section shall maintain Funds, portions of which may be either temporarily or permanently restricted. Restrictions are as defined in the governing documents for each Fund.” Consistent with this statement the following additional operational responsibilities of the Board are noted:

 

2) The Board shall ensure that payments from Special Funds which are Non-Restricted are made for responsible activities that are consistent with the original desire of the donor and/or the interests of the Society.

 

3) The Board shall ensure that payments from Special Funds which are Restricted are made for responsible activities that are consistent with the original desire of the donor.

 

4)  Definition of which Special Funds are Restricted shall be determined by The Engineering Center’s accounting consultant.

 

5) The Board shall ensure that monies shall be withdrawn from a Special Fund with the prior knowledge of the Special Fund Chair.

 

6) In accordance with BSCES Bylaws as amended June 14, 2004, Article 2 “All committees and leadership thereof shall be appointed by the President with the approval of the Executive Committee… The administration of each Fund Committee shall be in accordance with the regulations governing the Fund”

 

7) The Board shall verify that all Special Fund Chairs are members in good standing of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section ASCE.

 

8) Management Fee:

 

From the minutes of the June 24, 2002 Board of Government meeting: A management fee will be assessed to each Special Fund. Assessed amounts will be transferred from each Special Fund to the BSCES Society Reserve Fund. The referenced fee shall not exceed, within a BSCES Fiscal Year, 2% of the value of a specific Special Fund or 20% of its market gain, as valued at the end of the preceding BSCES Fiscal Year, at the discretion of the Treasurer. Each Special Fund valued at less than $25,000 will be exempt from assessment of this management fee. Uniform transfers from all eligible Special Funds may be executed until the BSCES Society Reserve Fund is valued at an amount of approximately $150,000 or approximately six months of operating expenses at the discretion of the Treasurer. The Treasurer will discuss any changes with the Special Fund Liaisons (pick Chair or Liaison?) prior to making any recommendations to the Board of Government for such changes.

 

 

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SPECIAL FUND CHAIR

 

1) All Special Fund Chair shall obtain approval for their chairpersonship from the Board, shall be appointed by the President with the approval of the Executive Committee, and shall maintain their membership in good standing with the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section ASCE. Any desired/required changes to the Special Fund Chairs or its committee members shall be brought to the attention of the Board at the next monthly Board Meeting.

 

2) Prior to the beginning of each fiscal year a budget shall be submitted to the Finance Committee for approval. All requests for payments from the Special Fund shall be consistent with an approved budget.

 

3) Grants or scholarships to individuals shall be recommended to the Board and Board approval must be given before the Special Fund Chair notifies the recipient of the proposed award.

 

4) Grants or scholarships to individuals shall be administered professionally and fairly. All grants or scholarships shall be consistent with the original desire of the donor of the Special Fund and made available to all eligible individuals.

 

5) All Special Fund Chairs shall be responsible for nominating their successor to the Nominating Committee during the month of January.

 

1) In accordance with the BSCES Bylaws as amended June 14, 2004, “The Treasurer, under the direction of the President and Board of Government, shall be charged with the custody and investment of all Funds of the Section, except as established otherwise by the terms of the Funds.” Consistent with this charge the following responsibilities of the Treasurer are noted:

 

2) Oversight (through the Finance Committee) of the investment accounts that constitute the Special Funds.

 

3) Tracking the approximate value of each individual Special Fund. Special Funds in general are commingled in the investment accounts to minimize overhead costs (and ultimate direct costs to the Special Funds) and to mitigate the need to sell assets to disburse monies.

 

4) When practical, monies from Special Funds (in general) are not disbursed until the end of the fiscal year based on the cumulative inflows and outflows. Interim disbursements are handled through the Operating Fund to facilitate this practice and to mitigate the need to sell assets or increase management costs.

 

5) Marginal changes in yearly cumulative inflows and outflows, at the discretion of the Treasurer, may be ignored allowing the final budget balancing to occur through the Operating Fund (also to mitigate the need to sell assets).

 

SPECIAL FUND CLASSIFICATIONS

 

1) The following statement was copied from FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) FAS 117: Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Organizations Dated January 1995:

 

Para 13. A statement of financial position provided by a not-for-profit organization shall report the amounts for each of three classes of net assets – permanently restricted net assets, temporarily restricted assets, and unrestricted net assets – based on the existence or absence of donor-imposed restrictions.

 

 

2) A determination of the classification of Special Funds or Portions of Special Funds to the above 3 classes was made by The Engineering Center’s accounting consultant Feeley and Driscoll, P.C. The following was included in the “Notes to Financial Statements – June 30, 2004 and 2003:

 

Note 8 – Permanent Funds

 

Permanently restricted net assets at June 30, 2004 and 2003 are restricted for investment in perpetuity, the income from which is available to support grants, scholarships, awards, forums and a library (shown in seminar expense). The following is a breakout of permanently restricted funds at June 30: