Your Foundation Corner

Greetings Surveyors, Mappers & Land Information Scientists!

My name is Joseph Dolan. I am a Trustee and Lifetime Member of the Foundation and a Past President of NSPS (2006).  I was elected Chairman of The National Society of Professional Surveyors Foundation, Inc. this month in San Diego, CA. The Foundation I am talking about is YOUR Foundation! Many of you may not be familiar with the Foundation, but it truly is yours! Let me give you a little background.                                    

The Foundation is a separate and independent Corporation in  the State of Maryland, incorporated January 4, 1995. The Foundation is a qualified  501 ( c ) (3) charitable organization under the Internal Revenue Code. I guess the best way to tell you why we exist and what we do, is to give you the description directly from our Bylaws.

Article I

Section 2. The purpose of this nonprofit corporation is to promote educational, scientific  and charitable activities in the fields of surveying, mapping and land information sciences, including the making of distributions to organizations exempt from federal taxation under section 501 (c) (3). Specific purposes are:

(a)   To promote education, study and research in the fields of surveying, mapping and land information sciences, and diffusion of knowledge thereof;

(b)   To provide scholarships, awards or other support to qualified students of surveying, mapping and land information sciences;

(c)    To conduct and support educational programs, lectures, forums or seminars in surveying, mapping and land information sciences, and related subjects;

(d)   To cause to be published and to distribute literary works on surveying, mapping and land information sciences subjects;

(e)   To acquire, preserve or exhibit rare books, documents, monuments, instruments of the surveying profession and any items of historical interest and significant bearing on the development of the practice and profession of surveying as well as the practice of mapping and land information sciences;

(f)     To acquire by bequest, devise, gift, grant, lease or otherwise and to hold, manage and use for the purpose herein set forth any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, or any undivided interest; to convey, sell or otherwise dispose of such property and to invest, reinvest and manage to the same, including the right to vote any stock so held, in such a manner as in the judgment of the Trustees of this organization will best promote its purpose;

(g)    To make monetary distributions to organizations that qualify for federal tax exemption under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended.

Your Foundation is made up of several classes of individual members and organizations. Membership classifications are as follows:

1.     Regular Member $50.00 per year.

2.     Century Member $100.00 per year

3.     Sustaining Member $500.00 per year

4.     Lifetime Member $5,000.00 payable over five (5) years.

5.     Charter Member a contributor to the Foundation of $100.00 or more made during the calendar year of 1995.

An example of an organization belonging to the Foundation is the American Association for Geodetic Surveying (AAGS).

Now that NSPS has been so successful with the 100% membership program, I believe that it is time to build the membership of your Foundation.  There are good reasons for you to become a member of the Foundation. One of them is the Disaster Relief Fund. The Foundation has helped surveyors throughout the United States when natural disasters strike; from hurricanes Katrina and Sandy to wildfires and tornadoes that destroyed businesses and homes of surveyors and mappers. When these folks had no other place to go and they turned to your Foundation, they received assistance. I can tell you that not one individual who asked for help was denied! That takes money! That money comes from you! I am asking for your help.  Join the Foundation; help us to always be able to say yes when that call comes in!

There are many more reasons to become a member of your Foundation, like the Bonnie Atwell Memorial Fund that deals with health issues; scholarships we manage; historical survey projects we’ve funded.  We will talk about each of them in future issues of News and Views.

Please consider becoming a member of the Foundation, you never know, you might have to call us one day and I do not ever want to have to say no because we don’t have the funds! Please join!

Thank you for letting us serve you!

Joe Dolan, Chairman