Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund -

The work of the Gildersleeve 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 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.

Standing Committees

Constitution & By-Laws
The Constitution & By-Laws 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 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. The work of the committee is driven by the Strategic Plan.

Finance
The Finance Committee gives advise 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.

Membership
The Membership Committee is responsible for increasing the funding base of VGIF by recruiting new contributing members and retaining the current membership. The committee works in conjunction with the Development Committee and the Marketing Committee.

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 to the committee by November 1 of each calendar year. From December to March, the Project Grants Committee make a selection of appropriate applications to be submitted to the VGIF Board of Directors for approval at the April Annual Meeting.

Special Appointments

Archival Historian
The VGIF archives are stored in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in North Hampton, Massachusetts. Records of the officers, standing committee conveners, and special committees are submitted to the committee upon completion of their respective terms of office one year following the end of term.

Communications Management
The Communications Management committee ia responsible for VGIF Publications such as the bi-annual edition of the VG Update newsletter; the production of recruitment materials such as the VGIF brochure and other recruitment materials such as slideshows and flyers when needed by other committees such as Development, Marketing and Membership; coordinates and manages the web sites; maintains the online Project Grants Library with project grant updates/reports and photo scans.

Emergency Resources
The Emergency Resources committee ensures that the work of the Gildersleeve 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.

VGIF Interns
The VGIF office has one Executive Secretary. VGIF also uses the help of Interns from Barnard College in New York. Our namesake, Virginia Gildersleeve, was a past Dean of Barnard College. VGIF interns work on a voluntary basis only with no recompense. They receive in return a good grounding in working in the international sphere.

Marketing
The Marketing Committee determines how best to describe the work of the organization to the membership and general public. The Marketing Committee works in conjunction with the Membership, Development and Communications Management committees.

On-Site Visits
The purpose of the On-site Visit Committee is: to develop a format for on-site visits to current or recent projects that have received funding from VGIF; to design correspondence among the committee, possible on-site visitors and the project directors; to develop a Liability Release Form protecting VGIF from legal action; to seek out on-site visitors through VGIF publications and other publicity; to communicate the on-site visitor’s report to the Board of Directors and the members. VGIF does not provide funds for travel or other expenses incurred by on-site visitors, therefore the on-site visitors will probably be members who are traveling in the vicinity of a project grant recipient.

Projects Grants History
The Project Grants History Committee maintains the database of all Projects funded complete with descriptions of the original funding proposals and subsequent reports and updates.

Public Relations
The Public Relations committee is responsible for coordinating and generating the disbursement of current items of interest to the VGIF membership and the general public. The Public Relations Committee produces a monthly online newsletter called the VG Flash.

Theater Night
VGIF committees and Board meeting bi-annually in October and April for 2 days in New York City on Fridays and Saturdays. A Theater evening is planned for Thursday evening and/or Saturday evening for members wishing to attend. Events are as broad as only New York City can allow -- Opera, Music, Live Theater, Dance.

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 “UN News” which appears in each issue of VGIF Update.

Each September the NGO/DPI Executive Committee and DPI hold a three-day conference at UN Headquarters in New York open to representatives and members of NGOs associated with DPI and those in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Each Thursday morning from September through June, DPI holds a briefing for NGO representatives on a subject of current interest.

Current news about what VGIF is doing at the UN can be viewed in the monthly editions of the VG Flash newsletter.

The Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund, Inc.
3 West 29th St., Room 1002 New York, New York, 10001 USA vgif@vgif.org

Supporting the advancement of understanding and cooperation in developing countries.

The Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund, Inc.
is a 501(c)(3) Charitable Corporation established in the State of New York in 1969.
Contributions to the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund are tax-deductible in the United States.

Committee Reports

Documents

Standing Committees

Special Appointment

Committees of VGIF

Standing Committees

Special Appointments