Minutes Daniel Hand Annual Review Committee Local Church Ministries Board of Directors March 13, 2012

Participants: Herbert Perkins- chair, Michelle Ellis, Carol Stanley- vice chair, Sheila Rubdi and Veronica M. Jefferson (staff)

Non Participants: Bob Ullman and Raymond Hargrove

CALL TO ORDER - The meeting was called to order by Herbert Perkins and welcome extended to visitors: Chris Cheline (LCM treasurer), Elizabeth Clement and Don Hill (Financial Ministries).

OPENING PRAYERS – offered by Michelle Ellis.

AGENDA and MINUTES- The meeting agenda was approved. The October 13, 2011 minutes were approved (moved by C. Stanley second by M. Ellis).

Daniel Hand Application Process - The committee reviewed the “next to final” draft of the application and was pleased with the overall product. The application was approved for use at such time as the current process is extended to include new requests. The following minor changes were suggested:  Rewording of request for “evaluation” report, for clarity,- page 5  Removal of excess bullets under “eligibility criteria” – page 2

Daniel Hand Fundraising Discussion – At the committee’s request, Don Hill and Elizabeth Clement (Financial Development Ministry Team) lead the a discussion about fundraising opportunities to increase the available pool of D.H. funds future requests.

Don Hill noted that while overall efforts are made to solicit support for the whole ministry of the UCC, fundraising priorities are set by the collegium. He encouraged the committee to do some visioning in the context of clearly identifying “the amount of funds needed by a specific time period, for a specifically defined purpose, (i.e., to fund new requests that meet the guidelines for Daniel Hand funds). Once these parameters are defined the Financial Development Team is better able to assist in developing fundraising strategies and identifying interested persons to assist with the fundraising efforts.

Don suggested, and the committee agreed to, a future meeting with the committee to advance the discussion on D.H. fundraising.

It was suggested that the committee consider the benefits of an annual visit to D.H. recipient colleges, (and other UCC related colleges) from the General Minister and President and representatives of the Daniel Hand Review Committee in order to raise awareness of the scholarship, meet with the D.H. Scholars, and further strengthen relationships with the schools, etc. Talladega College was offered as a possible site visit this fall (in light of the many thank you letters received from its Daniel Hand recipients). Veronica was asked to follow up with Elizabeth Clement. Michelle Ellis offered to participate as a representative from the committee.

Veronica reported that due to the postponement of the fall and spring meetings of the AMA Presidents the proposed conversations with the D.H. Review committee will be rescheduled for a future time.

March ’09 Vote to Limit D.H. Funds to current recipients. The committee reviewed the decision to limit the D.H. awards to the six AMA colleges and the Amistad Research center for three years. Since the committee was not able to meet with the AMA Presidents about what impact the expansion of these funds to other entities would have on their institutions and to ascertain, overall, the implications of these funds on the future educational landscape, the committee will recommend to the board to continue to limit the D.H. distribution to current recipients for an additional three years (2015). The committee also noted LCM’s continued efforts to strengthen relationships with its AMA Colleges and to build a sustaining UCC presence on its campuses as an important outreach of these funds.

Other Jan Resseger, Minister for Public Education and Witness of JWM will be invited to the spring meeting of the committee to aid the committee in understanding the future changes in the educational landscape and future needs the use of these funds might address.

The committee expressed appreciation for the thank you letters received from D.H. Scholars at Talladega College and, Huston-Taltson University.

Daniel Hand Review Committee recommendation to the LCM Board To continue to limit Daniel Hand Funds to the current recipients – Dillard University, Fisk University, Huston-Tillotson University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Talladega College, Tougaloo College and Amistad Research Center – for an additional three years.

In order to:  Continue efforts to strengthen relationships with the current recipients (in particular the 6 AMA colleges)  Finalize the application process for future recipients  Identify ways to increase the current distribution pool of D.H. Funds  Explore changes in the educational landscape and its implications for these funds.