The OLA Scholarship Taskforce Brings Its OLA Leads Proposal to the Board for Approval

PO Box 3067 • La Grande OR 97850

OLA Leads

Task Force Members: Pierina Parise, Amy Stanforth, Jennifer Snoek-Brown, Gary Sharp, Candice Watkins

The OLA Scholarship Taskforce brings its OLA Leads proposal to the board for approval.

In June, taskforce members secured $5,000 from the Oregon Community Foundation as seed money for its OLA Leads pilot year. This money would be given to OLA for this purpose with the understanding that OLA is trying something new, getting something moving to be polished along the way. The proposal was discussed at the retreat and questions arose from the board. It was determined to bring the discussion back to the August board meeting. Three taskforce members – Perri Parise, Gary Sharp, and Amy Stanforth – will be at the board meeting to present their vision and answer questions.

If the board approves the OLA Leads program, the taskforce will then begin work as the attached timeline dictates, creating marketing that targets donors and beginning the process for scholarship submissions.

Two other important pieces to note:

At the last board meeting the taskforce recommended that OLA invest the $25,000 in its HAS MLIS Scholarship Fund. OCF has recommended against investing this money in an endowment-type fund as the interest that it generates would be very low and the main investment of $25,000 would not be accessible after investment. OCF suggests that we consult its advisors for alternative ways to use this $25,000 to generate revenue. Perhaps OLA’s Finance & Investment Committee could also look at alternatives.

Also, the Task Force proposed a new OLA board position be created that would oversee the OLA Leads program - an OLA Leads Liaison or Coordinator. This position does not have to be on the executive board but would still provide continuity across various committees by facilitating communication, keeping an eye on sustainable funding, etc.The taskforce considered adding the scholarship duties to an existing committee, like the Leadership Committee or Membership Committee. However, the added duties and program are significant, would add much additional work for the existing chair of said committee, and require recruiting additional help. The taskforce determined that an independent position was ideal to serve as the hub between the working gears of OLA and the program itself.

The position would be a President’s appointment. If the OLA Leads program is approved by the board, the taskforcewould seek approval of this position later in the year. In the meantime, a current taskforce member will oversee the program in the upcoming year with the support of the Scholarship Taskforce.

Timeline for OLA Leads Scholarship Cycle

August: OLA Leadership Retreat

●Shoot video at retreat. Capture short stories about involvement in OLA, need for future leaders.

●Use this video for either:

○Crowdfunding purposes, if OLA Leads program is approved by board

○If program not approved by board, use for general membership drive, post on social networking, website, etc.

August through September

●Edit video to short piece or multiple short pieces

●If OLA Leads approved by board, create crowdfunding site using video (example, using the crowdfunding site Incited)

●Taskforce works together to produce common wording and marketing language to use on Incited, as well as other communications (Taskforce + OLA Communications Committee feedback)

●Work with Shirley to create a plan to use the existing database of current and retired OLA members. Perhaps this can become a function of memberclicks. Memberclicks uses this database of emails to communicate the project with link to crowdfunding site to these targeted audiences.

●Reconvence Scholarship Selection Committee - give them new guidelines for scholarship submissions, etc.

October

●Present progress at October board meeting

●Send out publicity for scholarship application process

●Send out crowdfunding site to targeted audiences

January

●HAS Chair publicizes OLA Conference Scholarships for OLA Leads

February

●Seek approval of OLA Leads Coordinator position on Board

April

●Selection of scholarship recipients (MLIS students) for board approval

●Announce MLIS and Conference scholarships during conference, Jane plugs OLA Leads during her announcements at lunches, etc.

May

●Shirley issues scholarships to selected students’ financial aid offices or directly to students/support staff

June

●OLA Leads cycle of leadership begins - unit involvement, mentoring, conference participation

●Possible leadership project for recipient(s) - create the new crowdfunding scheme, new video, etc.