Development Committee

The Development Committee is the group primarily responsible for coordinating the Yearly Meeting's fund-raising efforts and planning long-term goals and strategies. In addition, the committee is responsible for controlling the distribution of the Yearly Meeting's mailing list.

Click to see the complete description of the Committee as it appears in the current Manual of Procedure.

During Annual Session 2012, the Development Committee discussed having an outside review of the program as it had developed. This review was done during the fall of 2012 and the report is available here.

Listed below are the current members of the Committee.

Grants Application and Management Policy

At Tenth Month 2014 Interim Meeting, the Development Committee presented their Grants Application and Management Policy for consideration. It was approved by the Yearly Meeting. The complete text of the policy is set out below.

Baltimore Yearly Meeting nourishes Friends ways of worship and service and supports and upholds Quaker values. It offers its constituent Monthly Meetings a wide range of services and support through its programs. To accomplish this, the Yearly Meeting relies on the financial resources provided through the apportionment process, through gifts from individuals and Monthly Meetings and through fees from its programs and activities. Where appropriate, it also seeks grants from outside sources, both Quaker and non-Quaker, whose mission and values are aligned with Baltimore Yearly Meeting. The Development Program is charged with oversight of all funding requests made to foundations and other outside organizations. This grants policy details the research, application, approval and acceptance, and management policies to be followed with regard to any such grants.

(NOTE: For grants awarded by BYM, see Educational Grants Committee and Sue Thomas Turner Quaker Education Fund Committee.)

Overview

The use of grants to fund BYM programs or activities may be considered as a sequence of distinct phases:

Grant Research

The Development Program is responsible for seeing that assistance is available to Yearly Meeting grant seekers as needed and, along with the General Secretary and possibly others, for determining the appropriateness of grant sources. All parties must be responsive to the time sensitivities of any grant processes.

• The Development Program maintains a grantor criteria document and a list of previous grantors to BYM. Grantors must have priorities and policies that are in harmony with BYM Faith and Practice.
• The Development Director identifies grants resources that could be helpful for the Yearly Meeting and serves as a resource to BYM on these issues.
• From time to time the Director may make recommendations to BYM programs about possible opportunities.
• Anyone seriously considering applying for a grant notifies the Development Director about this as soon as possible.
• The Development Director keeps the Development Committee and General Secretary informed of potential applications.

Grant Application

A program committee, in consultation with the Development Program (the Development Director and the Development Committee), may initiate grant applications for a proposed program or activity of the committee that is already under its charge. During this phase, the Development Program considers how the proposal relates to other current or anticipated fundraising activities.

This program committee, with the assistance of the Development Director, drafts the grant application. In preparing the request, this committee needs to consider the information and questions below.

Grant requests

• Proposed program or activity description and reason for the grant request.
• Why is this program or activity needed?
• What individual(s) or group(s) would benefit?
• Is any Quaker testimony or concern addressed by this proposal? Which one(s)?
• List of events and activities planned, with timetable for implementation and completion.
• Expected duration of the proposed program or activity.
• List of key staff /volunteers involved and their roles, qualifications and BYM committee or meeting membership where applicable.
• Explanation of interactions with other organizations, if relevant.
• Description of the grant for which BYM is applying, including grant purpose and conditions.
• Whether the mission and values of the granting organization are aligned with those of BYM.
• Does acceptance of the grant create any conflict of interest or appearance of conflict of interest for BYM?
• Are there considerations that might weigh against pursing the particular grant?
• Which BYM individuals or committees have been consulted, and what is their feedback?

Evaluation

• If this grant is awarded, how will the use of the funds be defined as successful in the short term?
• How will the use of funds be defined as successful over the long term?
• By what measures will the funds use be gauged in a final report?

Finances

• A budget for the proposed program or activity project with all potential or actual funding sources indicated, including a list all sources applied to, amount requested, and status (pending, granted or refused).
• The dollar amount of funds for the proposed program or activity in the BYM budget. Why is this project not fully covered by the BYM budget?
• Does the program committee have any existing funds that can support the proposed program or activity? Please explain.
• Are there any matching requirements? If yes, how will they be addressed?
• Are there any ongoing budget commitments? If yes, how will they be addressed?

BYM Consultation Process

• Any committees that have responsibility for specific grant-related activities must approve of the grant application before it goes forward.
• Trustees must be informed of any grant applications before they go forward and may review them for potential legal, fiduciary, safety or other concerns.
• The Treasurer, Comptroller, and Stewardship and Finance Committee must be notified of the likely financial management requirements before the grant application can go forward.
• If the grant involves possible staff changes, Supervisory Committee must be notified of this possibility before the grant application goes forward.

Grant Approval and Acceptance

The Development Program and General Secretary approve the submission of the grant application if the above questions and considerations have been fully addressed and the proposal meets the criteria of the granting organization. If the grant is awarded, the Development Director approves acceptance of the funds and determines whether BYM is able to comply with the reporting requirements and final terms and conditions of the award. All grants are made in BYM’s corporate name, Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. The signature of the General Secretary is required on grant submissions and award acceptances.

Grant Management

Under the direction of the responsible program committee, the BYM staff and volunteers identified in the grant application carry out the program or activity funded by the grant, with assistance from other BYM staff as appropriate. BYM is responsible for:

• Assuring that the funds awarded are spent in accordance with the goals and objectives as stated in the grant proposal.
• Maintaining adequate records for the funded program or activity, including records of the evaluation measures specified in the grant proposal.
• Maintaining adequate accounting records for the grant funds.

The Development Director will review any required report(s) prepared by the relevant program committee and submit the report to the granting organization.

Once the grant has been awarded, if any unforeseen significant adjustments in expenditures appear to be required for the funded project, then the responsible program committee must immediately notify the Development Director, who will consult as needed with the granting organization and any responsible parties as named in the consultative application process to address the changes.

At the conclusion of any grant, those in BYM responsible for the grant write a report to the Meeting for Business on issues, outcomes and lessons learned. This may be included as part of an annual committee or staff report.

The Development Director provides the Development Committee with a report on the status of all current grants once a year at a time designated by the Committee.

Development Committee Annual Reports

Development Committee Interchange Reports

Visioning Project Report

In 2010 and 2011, Baltimore Yearly Meeting undertook a project to consider the vision of the Yearly Meeting community. As a part of that project, each committee was asked to respond to a set of queries that had been promulgated by the ad hoc Visiting Ministers Committee. The Development Committee's responses are available here.