The Split is Official

By Sue Swanson, President

The Scudder Assoc. Foundation has recently split into two organizations. The Scudder Association Foundation will retain its name and remain devoted to philanthropy. The newly organized Scudder History Association, headed by Scudder Family Historian Margery Boyden, will concentrate on our rich family heritage and kinship. The split was the result of advice from our lawyers that supporting the non-charitable family history purposes would lead to the loss of our IRS tax exemption.

Splitting the organization into two required changing SAF’s bylaws.

Over the past two years the Directors of the Scudder Association Foundation have worked to simplify and streamline the organization to make it more efficient and easier to manage for future leaders. The new bylaws were approved by vote of the membership on October 15 to streamline the organization and bring it into compliance with tax laws. Here’s a summary of the changes reflected in the new Foundation bylaws:

  1. Membership:
  1. a)      The Members of the Foundation will be the individuals who serve as the Board of Directors that governs SAF.
  2. b)      The current general members of the Foundation will automatically become “Supporters”.  The only change will be the name: from Members to Supporters. Their benefits will remain the same. Future Supporters may be either lineal descendants of any known pre-1700 Scudder progenitor or members of the general public. Supporters will pay no dues and will not have voting privileges.
  1. Board of Directors:
  1. a)      The Board of Directors will be reduced from a maximum of fifteen members to eleven with the minimum remaining at nine.
  2. b)      The terms of Directors and Officers shall be reduced from three year terms to two years.
  3. c)      The number of Board meetings will be reduced from a minimum of four per year to three.
  4. d)      Committees: the number of Standing Committees has been reduced to five: Nominating, Finance, India Grants, Educational Grants, and Communications.
  1. Family History Purpose: In order to comply with IRS charitable regulations, the third purpose of SAF has been revised to read: “Third, the Foundation shall also research and publish for public use, historical information on the Scudder family and its 400-year heritage of service and philanthropy and preserve the Scudder Archives for future historians.”
  1. Compensation: To comply with general non-profit practice, Directors will no longer be compensated. The Board may compensate Board-appointed positions (i.e. Archivist, Family Historian, Director of Technology).