Report of the YUFA Foundation - 2005-6
The terms of reference of the YUFA Foundation are extremely broad: "to receive and maintain a fund or funds and apply from time to time all or part thereof and/or the income therefrom for charitable purposes". The directors and membership of the foundation have chosen to make contributions to York University for the purpose of granting scholarships and bursaries. The Foundation has only some $40,000 currently under its direct administration and these funds are mainly pledged to scholarships.
The Foundation continues to have a role in connection with funds already contributed. The "Scholarship Criteria" and "Bursary Criteria" in the following paragraphs apply to the $2.1 million in scholarship funds that YUFA Trust and Foundation contributions have generated.
Scholarship Criteria
Prior to 2000-1 a scholarship of a fixed amount (most recently $3,000) was provided to the top student(s) in each undergraduate faculty who completed between 10 and 15 courses at York University, achieved the best grade point average and agreed to subsequently re-register at York to complete his/her(their) undergraduate degree programme(s). A scholarship could be held only once and was payable at the time of re-registration. SCARSA served as the selection committee. Qualifying faculty were Arts, Fine Arts, Glendon, Osgoode (Osgoode faculty have their own collective agreement but contribute to the YUFA Foundation on the same basis as YUFA faculty contribute to the YUFA Trust) and Atkinson. Two scholarships were awarded to each of Atkinson and Arts. A further scholarship was shared between Science and Environmental Studies.
Commencing in 2000-1, following contributions totaling $1.05 million (which were matched by the Ontario government), half the annual funds generated by our contribution are distributed for scholarships as previously except that each faculty is guaranteed at least one scholarship. The remainder of this half of the funds is then allocated for scholarships in accordance with the number of students enrolled in each faculty. These criteria may be reviewed after every five years by the YUFA Foundation, which may recommend changes.
Bursary Criteria
For the remaining half of the annual funds, bursaries are currently awarded with the available funds being divided between faculties according to enrolments. The sole criterion for these bursaries is need. The use of this portion of the funds can be changed at any time on the recommendation of the Foundation.
Ongoing Responsibilities of the Foundation
As mentioned above, it is possible for the Foundation to recommend adjusting the bursary allocation at any time. Also, commencing with 2005-6 it became possible for the Foundation to recommend changes to the scholarship allocation once every five years. Recommendations of the YUFA Foundation in respect of YUFA bursaries and scholarships are forwarded to SCARSA, which has the ultimate power to accept or reject all proposed changes.
At the 2003 AGM it was agreed that the Foundation directors will assume a monitoring role on behalf of the YUFA Trust with respect to the York/Westview scholarship contributions of the YUFA Trust and others. Since that time Foundation directors have participated in discussions with YUFA and the Community Projects Committee concerning these proposed scholarships. It was concluded that it would be appropriate to form a committee to administer the scholarships. This Award Committee consists of the Westview Coordinator, the two chairs of the YUFA Community Project Committee and the ACE Program Co-op Coordinator(s). The YUFA Foundation does not participate directly but would assume the work of the Award Committee should it, for any reason, be dissolved.
Proposal for the November 20, 2006, Annual Meeting
The Foundation Directors have considered the implications of the establishment of the new Faculty of Health and held discussions with the York Foundation. The result is a unanimous recommendation that we establish a new scholarship for that faculty rather than reallocate the existing number of scholarships. This entails a new donation of $3,000 per year. The Directors are willing to allocate $6,000 over the next two years for this purpose. They will seek reimbursement from the YUFA Trust and also recommend to the YUFA Trust that it contribute $30,000 to be matched by the Ontario Government resulting in an endowment of $60,000 which would yield an ongoing annual scholarship of $3,000 commencing in 2008-9.
2005-6 YUFA Foundation directors were:
Sam Mallin - Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies - smallin@yorku.ca
Paul Evans - School of Administrative Studies, Atkinson - 416-209-5801 - pevans@yorku.ca - President
Stan Jeffers - Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Pure and Applied Science - 33851 (o) - stanj@yorku.ca - Secretary
Jamie Llambias-Wolff - Division of Social Science, Faculty of Arts - 33298 - jlwolff@yorku.ca
Ray Rogers - Faculty of Environmental Studies - rrogers@yorku.ca - 22616 - Treasurer
