Class fund proposal by Dave Hall, Aug 2022
Proposal
As your outgoing treasurer who has administered the Class of 77 fund since 2012, I recommend that we maintain our class fund as a separate endowment fund within the Alumni Association. I have discussed this with Ms Nancy Marr, the RMC Alumni Association CEO who is agreeable to the purposes listed below:
Purpose 1. As a first priority, fund activities that support inclusion and diversity at RMC Kingston or RMC St Jean. For example, there are projects like Resilience Plus and the Athena Network that cater to a wide number of cadets already. Both have been requested by the Colleges and approved in prior years by the Alumni Association as appropriate causes.
Purpose 2. If the requirements of Purpose 1 have been fully satisfied and there is an excess in the restricted fund portion of the endowment, funding may be used for academic lectures and guest speakers at RMC Kingston and RMC St Jean.
Purpose 3. If it becomes impossible or impractical to apply funding for Purposes 1 or 2, or to the extent the amount within restricted fund portion in any given year exceeds the amount required to meet Purposes 1 and 2, then benefactions from the remaining balance may be used as mutually agreed by the Class of 1977 and the RMC Alumni Association.
I also recommend in the interests of simplicity that our gift upon entry to the Old Brigade be a small donation to the TDV fund. We would maintain the bulk of our capital for funding future annual gifts in accordance with Purposes 1–3 above beginning in 2023.
Class of 1977 Endowment
A. Technical details
All RMC endowments have two parts.
- an Endowment Restricted Fund, which are the monies that our own capital generates each year. This is the part that can be spent annually.
- an Endowment Capital Fund, which is the sum of all donations that we have contributed since 2012. This does not get spent but creates the base to fund future projects/endeavours that we choose.
B. Class Fund Rationale - Why Have a Separate Fund?
On Friday night, we will be voting on whether to roll our fund into an existing fund held within the Alumni Association, or to keep ours separate and create our own endowment.
The key reasons to maintain a separate class fund are twofold: we retain the option of selecting annual projects. Secondly, we retain control of the capital that we've raised to date.
As Stan correctly noted in his 14 August blog post, the Alumni Association has a structure to select requests. Each year they would approach the Class of 1977 via our committee with suggestions that we can decide to accept. The management of our fund, the logistics of dispensing our attributed interest by the Alumni Association are already established. It is a clean setup within which our committee can operate.
Some of the other funds like the TDV fund have a very wide mandate. There is nothing wrong with that. For example, they fund battlefield tours and artists in residence. But these do not directly address the issues that currently hobble the CAF and the Colleges. Funding diversity, inclusion, and equality mandates better address this. Were we to combine with this or any other fund, we would lose all control over the projects it chooses. We cannot direct another fund to choose our desired initiative.
Advocacy takes many forms. One thing is certain: you can try and be on the right side of history by doing "something" or doing nothing and hope the problem goes away or someone else deals with it. The 2022 events like the Arbour Report, the Lt-Gen Cadieux charge on sexual assault, the 2019 RMC "botched investigation" by the Kingston Military Police, even Hockey Canada's remarkable mishandling of sexual assault issues clearly shows that writing reports and whatever has been tried so far either isn't working or is met with little success.
The Class of 1977 will not solve the issue of male/female inequality and aberrant (largely) male behaviour. This is a "wicked issue" (my daughter uses this term!) like climate change or poverty. No one individual can solve it. It is an institutional issue. My aim is for our class to help our institution: the Colleges. All initiatives/advocacies begin as minority positions. And if successful, they become a majority acceptance. They become the narrative. If there is no advocacy for — in our case — cadet equality and inclusion, then there is no change in behaviour.
Our class fund may not have the heft of a Queen's or UofT endowment. I believe that in concert with other funds within the Foundation, we do have size to influence some of the issues affecting the Colleges. What is more, it is clear that other classes wish their funds to remain separate for the same reason. We wish to reserve the right to control our capital and direct it to projects that we feel are necessary.
The survivability of our class fund is a good question. Economist J.M. Keynes once said, "in the end, we are all dead." One of our classmates referred to "old soldiers fading away." True, a biological certainty. But think of the experience we've all gained over a lifetime of service in many forms. Personally, I don't think my brain has totally atrophied yet. Retiring soon will give me more, not less, time. Why not use it for the good of others? Some of the classes from the 60s — ten+ years our senior — have been and continue to be some of the strongest contributors to our Colleges.
Our committee via a few Zoom calls, website postings, and emails can keep the Class of 77 informed of the direction and opportunities of our fund. It would not be an onerous task for those of us who wish to involve ourselves in a charitable endeavour that many of us have helped build since 2012 when Stan and I first signed our Accumulating Agreement. Some of us wish to continue with that process. I see no value at all in giving our fund to someone else and "fading away." Why would many of us continue to contribute to a class fund (many thanks to those who have done so this year!) only to turn it over to someone else and lose all control? Because we're "old?" Or we don't want to be bothered? Those aren't reasons. They are excuses. And doing "nothing" perpetuates the status quo.
There is no personal gain for those of us who wish to advocate for the good of others.
With respect to all.
10950 David M. Hall
905-773-4980
d7hall@rogers.com