Notes from the Inside

Vol. 41, No. 2, April 2012
Printer friendly version of Newsletter

Generosity and Mindful Spending

Quick Links....

I'm writing this on a bus, bouncing through the middle of Seattle on my way to Vancouver, British Columbia and the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (I am the HSS delegate to Section X—Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering). This is a full day of travel: 12 hours of plane, light rail, and bus. Had I flown directly to Vancouver, I would have saved some 5 hours, and so you may ask why I would come up through Seattle. There are many reasons but costs figure near the top.

Let me explain. This past year, members have been especially generous to the HSS, particularly in their contributions to our general operating fund. One of my pleasures is thanking those who trust us with these gifts, and my pledge to donors who give unrestricted gifts (those gifts that do not target specific activities such as prizes or Sponsor a Scholar) is to spend the money wisely. So when I looked at the price of roundtrip airfare from South Bend to Vancouver and then compared that cost to flying to Seattle and me taking the bus to Vancouver, we saw that we could save over $200 US (and I could use my time in Seattle for a site visit for a future HSS meeting). Sure, the trip is longer than flying directly to Vancouver (and time is money) but I can work on the bus and the more we stretch our money the more we can further interest in the history of science. And though I must admit to a certain degree of fatigue when the bus rolled onto the Notre Dame campus two weeks ago at 1:00 in the morning (because I flew into Chicago rather than South Bend) this feeling was tempered by knowing that we had saved the HSS another $200. And this savings is important because I know that our members have many options for donations.

So how do we spend these generous donations? The first question we ask is how does an activity advance our mission to further interest in the history of science, followed closely by the second question of how can we fulfill this activity at the lowest cost. These are important questions because one of the more important benefits of these gifts is that they allow us to lower our draw on the HSS endowment. After the economic downturn of 2008, we re-evaluated our financial policies and one of the results of this re-examination was the decision to lower our dependence on endowment income, adopting a policy where we try to draw around 4%, a conservative tapping of these funds that will help us not only preserve the endowment but help it grow. And when our members are especially generous, as they have been, we can both lower our endowment draw and take advantage of opportunities not otherwise open to us, such as participating in the second Science and Engineering Festival in Washington DC later this spring (one of the larger such festivals in the world) and defraying costs for graduate students to participate in the 3-Society conference. It is your generosity that makes it possible. Thank you!

And thank you for your membership in the HSS.

- Jay Malone, HSS Executive Director

History of Science Society

Notes from the Inside

Generosity and Mindful Spending

Quick Links....

Primary Navigation

Search

History of Science Society

Frequently Used Sites