Section/Division Activity Fund Considerations

CONSIDERATIONS IN REVIEWING SECTION/DIVISION

ACTIVITY FUND REQUEST

The Federal Bar Association Section/Division Activity Fund (SDAF) was created to provide funds to support potential revenue generating programs and activities that are sponsored or co-sponsored by the Sections, Divisions and Chapters of the FBA. The SDAF is administered by a five-member Board (SDAF Board), which will review all SDAF requests. In an effort to provide guidance to those seeking access to resources from the SDAF, the SDAF Board has articulated the following considerations to assist with both the SDAF applicant and the SDAF Board in reviewing request. These Considerations are intended to be flexible and no significance should be attached to their order. Moreover, these considerations are intended to be an exclusive listing of all pertinent factors that may warrant favorable or unfavorable disposition of any particular request. The SDAF Board's considerations are as follows:

The SDAF is limited to programs and activities with revenue-generating potential. By way of example only, the SDAF will not grant request for non-revenue generating matters such as newsletters, receptions, etc. it is anticipated that to the extent possible, where a recipient enjoys a profit related to an activity for which it has used SDAF funds, such grant funds will be repaid in part or in whole.

Priority will be given to request for seed money for projects, such as seminar, with an anticipated repayment to the SDAF and a profit and a profit for the requesting Section/Division.
Priority will be given to the projects that demonstrate, through their content, format and frequency, a reasonable expectation of a profit and a repayment to the SDAF.
Priority will be given to request from the Sections/Divisions that lack financial resources to undertake worthwhile programs and projects that are reasonably calculated to generate a profit.
The reasonableness of the request will be examined in both terms of the total amount requested in relation to the SDAF's budget and the reasonableness of the amount requested in terms of the project to b funded.
Since it is the SDAF Board's desire to spread the SDAF funds among as many Sections/Divisions as possible, the applicant's history as to the number, amount and purpose of previous request, as well as the amount and history of repayments to the SDAF, will be considered.
Notwithstanding any of the foregoing considerations, the SDAF Board encourages new innovative programs by the FBA's Sections and Divisions and it will give strong consideration to such programs, even if they are untested and have no historical track record, if such programs are reasonably calculated to substantially enhance the visibility of the FBA, its Sections/Divisions, or if such programs provide a unique service or program to the federal practitioner not readily available through other conventional programs.

October 4, 1996