VAB in Action :: Meeting 2005

Meetings

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting held on 13 March 2005 at Ghorwa Restaurant, Jamaica, New York

The sixth annual meeting was held on Sunday, March 13, 2005 at Ghorwa Restaurant, Jamaica, New York from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. under the Chairmanship of VAB President, Dr. A. T. Rafiqur Rahman. 22 Participants including VAB officials, donors and volunteers joined the Meeting. Documents presented at the Meeting included: VAB Annual Report for 2004; VAB first Newsletter in 2005; Report from VAB Representative in Bangladesh; Report from Organizer for VAB Health program; Outline of VAB program budget for 2005-2007; VAB Office in Bangladesh with the names of VAB Advisory Board and Executive Board and brief bio data of VAB Representative and VAB Deputy Executive Director in BGD. As there was not enough time to peruse all the documents, the Chair highlighted the main points in each of these documents. Discussions and decisions are noted under specific agenda items.

1)   Review of 2004 Program: Participants noted that 460 scholarships were awarded in 23 high schools of which six schools were improved with science equipment, library books, sports and cultural equipment. They noted with high satisfaction that an urgently needed teachers orientation training were conducted for Math and English teachers of all schools and a more intensive training of teachers were carried out for teachers from eight schools in other subjects. They were very happy to hear about the progress the VAB New Jersey Chapter had made in shipping 225 used computers to Bangladesh and start seven learning centers. Remaining 15 of the 22 centers planned for this year will start by June. The participants were impressed with the impact that VAB programs are making in Bangladesh in such a short time as evidenced by the increasing demands for VAB educational and training services.

2)   VAB Program for 2005: Participants noted with satisfaction that the decisions of the last Board meeting to register VAB in Bangladesh as a foreign NGO and to implement the program directly are being implemented from this year. They were very happy to note that an office has already been rented and the VAB local volunteers are donating furniture and staff is being hired. Participants congratulated all the volunteer members of VAB Advisory Board and the Executive Board in Dhaka for their commitment and dedication to VAB. They heartily welcomed the involvement of Dr. James Tejosh Das and Professor Syed Giasuddin Ahmed in heading the VAB office and offered their full support and cooperation to them in managing VAB program activities and realizing VAB ideals and goals for which we all are working. The Meeting congratulated the officials in Dhaka for recruiting a group of 22 student volunteers from Dhaka University and training and assigning each of them one VAB school. Some participants suggested that detailing the role and functions of the volunteers would be useful in order to bring synergy and complementarities between their works with that of paid staff. The participants noted with satisfaction that scholarships awardees from 20 schools are already finalized and books and supplies are being distributed.

3)   Publicity and Fundraising for 2005 and beyond: The Chair reviewed the past experiences of publicity and fundraising, highlighting in getting donations the importance of close linkage between contact publicity / some form of personal connection between VAB volunteers and the donors. Although generalized publicity through media and other forums are useful in getting the name of VAB known, it was not exactly clear how much such publicity would translate into actual donation. While VAB used all forms of fundraising approaches in the past, so far the most useful one has been thorough targeted mailing, personal contact and small gatherings at volunteer’s homes. Following intensive discussions, several decisions and recommendations were made to intensify publicity and fundraising for 2005. They are:

      As VAB is expanding it is necessary to undertake more systematic management approaches and utilize business planning in organizing and carrying out its activities at an higher professional level, if needed with paid staff and services.

      VAB needs to prepare an attractive brochure detailing its activities, the supports it need form donors and whom to contact so that this brochure can be used for publicity and fundraising.

      VAB needs to update its website and may explore how it can be further improved, using professional service with payment.

      VAB may consider seriously Internet fundraising for which it may contact professional paid services, in case volunteers not available.

The Meeting made recommendations on specific publicity and fund raising approaches and events. They are:

      Continue with the existing targeted mail letter campaigning four times a year. There are now 270 donors on the list. As about 20% donors do not usually renew we need to expand this targeted list. The Meeting recommended that each participant might send at least 10 prospective donors with their names and addresses to the VAB office at email: arahman10@aol.com as soon as possible.

      Individual participants are encouraged to contact prospective donors who may like to sponsor specific VAB activities like scholarships for a school, furnishing a science laboratory or library, supporting basic health services for a school, etc. Once they find some donors interested, they may send the information to the VAB President or the Secretary to follow up.

      VAB may also organize a meeting with the officials of several regional associations to discuss VAB activities and seek their support. Additionally, VAB volunteers may also request the officials of these associations to permit VAB volunteers to present VAB activities at their meetings/social gatherings. In this context all participants were kindly requested to identify such opportunities and keep VAB officials informed so that necessary arrangements can be made.

      VAB may actively explore its attendance at various meetings of Bangladeshi professionals like doctors, pharmacists etc. Several professionals at the Meeting including Drs Waled Chowdhury, Maksud Chowdhury, Mr., A. Awal Siddiqui and Murad Hussain volunteered to get a slot for VAB presentation and a table for VAB publicity at the coming annual meetings of doctors and pharmacists.

      The Meeting recommended the continuation of VAB presentations at home gatherings and other similar forums like birthdays and marriage anniversaries etc.

      The Meeting also recommended exploring VAB presentation at various local community clubs such as Lions and Rotary clubs. Mr. Grant volunteered to speak at these clubs, if an invitation can be arranged.

      The Meeting welcomed an invitation from Ms. Uzma Akhnad to arrange publicity of VAB at the upcoming Bangladeshi cultural function at Hartford (the Chair agreed to offer VAB publicity materials). Ms Guzman also offered to arrange meeting of younger Bangladeshi professionals in NY City in the future.

      The Meeting approved a proposal for an Outreach activity to reach Bangladeshis in the USA thorough mass mailing. This will involve huge operation starting with collecting data on Bangladeshis in various cities across USA. The participants were requested to help by offering names and telephones of Bangladeshis they know in various parts of USA whom we may contact for the details on Bangladeshis in their communities. Please send your information to ATR Rahman at arahman10@aol.com.

      The Meeting also noted a suggestion for organizing a Seminar for presenting and discussing various VAB activities. This will greatly help publicity of VAB in the local Bangladeshi community.

In addition to the above specific recommendations for publicity and fundraising, the Meeting also approved two major activities during 1005. These are:

      Establishing two VAB chapters-one each for NY City, initially focusing upon Queens and Brooklyn and the other for Long Island. Each of these chapters will organize and manage their operations on publicity and fundraising with support form the Central Office. The establishment of these chapters will offer more VAB faces in the Bangladeshi community where frequent social and associational interaction will create significantly more publicity and more face to face contact on VAB matters. Such contact will surely generate more donation and support for VAB. These chapters will be organized in next two months, using the model set by VAB New Jersey chapter.

      It was agreed to organize a large VAB fundraising function in the month of September. A Committee with Mr. A. Awal Siddiqui as Convener was formed with the following members: Dr. Sufian Khondker; Mr. Mahbubul Huq (New Jersey); Dr. Abdul Huq; Uzma Akhand; Dr. Maksud Chowdhury; Dr. Wadud Bhuyian and Mr. Mohammad Saleh (both were not present, but it was hoped that they would agree); Mr. Mustafa Khandakar; and Dr. M.R. Chowdhury. The Committee may request any other volunteers to join the group.

4)      Organizational Matters

      The Meeting approved the appointment of the following volunteers as Directors for a period of two years: Mr. Mahfuz Chowdhury (Long Island, NY); Sayid Nasim Rabbani (Chicago, IL); Dr. Jean Ellickson (Chicago, IL); Dr. Ehsanul Hoque (New Haven, CT) and Mr. Md. Mizan Rahman ( Long Island, NY). The Meeting also pre-approved the following persons as Directors and authorized the President to discuss their interest and availability. They are: Mrs. Laurie Saylak ( Scarsdale, NY); Mr. Mohammad Saleh ( Long Island, NY); Mrs. Sabina Hussain ( Wappingers Falls, NY); and Mrs. Bela Chowdhury ( Glastonbury, CT).

      The Meeting noted that while VAB was small and quiet informal, it was possible to identify like minded persons we knew well to work for VAB and gradually absorb them as Directors without formally articulating the criteria for selecting Directors. The Meeting recommended that as VAB is growing it will be useful to establish some formal criteria for identifying and evaluating candidates for Directorship and suggested that such criteria may be established and used for future appointment of Directors for VAB.

As the Meeting continued for three hours, it was agreed to adjourn it, although several members had informal discussions till 5:30 p.m.