Charity Recommendations Requested - 04/2019

The Corvette Club of America (CCA) Board of Directors has established a committee responsible for the recommendation of charitable organizations for donations. Although past practice has been to select specific recipients based on recommendations from the members attending monthly business meetings with final selection by the Board, the CCA would like to extend the opportunity for recommending worthy recipients to all club members and give the full membership an opportunity to have input in the final selection process. In order to ensure that membership has a voice in the decision process, we are asking that you submit your recommendations based on the guidelines listed below.

The CCA is motivated to contribute to our community by supporting organizations that more directly deliver services to our fellow citizens. Each year the CCA organizes a variety of fund-raising events and contributes the proceeds to various worthy causes. The club promotes several events as charitable fund-raisers which bring in a significant portion of the funds available for distribution. These events include several autocrosses and an annual car show in conjunction with our sponsoring dealership, Sport Chevrolet. Funds may also come from other sources such as donations to the CCA, dues and other minor activities. The amount collected varies year to year and the Board determines the amount that can be disbursed after taking into consideration all expenditures.

Please identify your favorite charity for consideration. Finalists will be selected by the CCA charity committee based on the guidelines that follow and will be presented to the membership via e-mail  for final selection within two weeks of submittal cut-off. Your input is greatly appreciated.

Please submit your recommendations to charities@vette-club.org no later than May 3, 2019. Please include a short statement on why you have chosen your recommended charity and include a link to its website if one is available.

Following the final vote by the membership, the results will be communicated to all via e-mail.

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Submittals will be evaluated using the following guidelines:

Types of Charities: Generally, there are two types of charities that the CCA has supported in the past: scholarship type programs and charitable humanitarian groups. This guideline is intended to focus solely on the selection process for charitable humanitarian contributions. Recommendations for other types of contributions are presented to the Board outside this guide.

Guiding Principles: Recognizing the modest amount of the CCA’s donations and the wide variety of worthy causes each of us may feel passionate about, there is a need to narrow the selection of recipients consistent with the goals and objectives of the CCA. Therefore, recommendations should comply with the following criteria which will be applied in the final selection process:

1. Recipients must qualify as 501(c)(3) under IRS rules pertaining to charitable organizations.
2. Recipients should be either local (meaning DC Metropolitan) or are a local chapter of a National organization where the funds are maintained and utilized in the local area.
3. Recipients must be focused on humanitarian causes, providing direct person assistance.
4. Given the modest amount raised annually and to maximize the value of the CCA’s donation, preference will be given to organizations with a demonstrated track record for cost effective use of donated funds.
5. Ideally, the recipient should be willing to participate in our specific fund-raising events to promote their organization.
6. Generally, the CCA should expect some form of recognition for its efforts. Local recognition where the CCA’s contribution has a demonstrable impact is preferable to acknowledgements from organizations where the CCA is lost in the cloud of corporate or philanthropic contributors.

Worthy Causes Outside the Scope of this Guideline: Members that would like to recommend club contributions to organizations focused on local causes outside the scope noted above should attend a monthly business meeting and present their interests. Examples of such local causes might include such things as:

• Chesapeake Bay Foundation
• Scholarship Support
• National Corvette Museum Activities