The conference call for the American Agricultural Economics Association Foundation Governing Board began at 3:00 pm, February 17, 1999. Joe Coffey began the discussion.

1. The November 8, 1998, AAEA Foundation Board minutes were presented to the board for approval.

   Motion: Walt Armbruster moved to approve the November Foundation Board Minutes as written. Laurian Unnevehr seconded. Approved.

2. Jane Luzar had submitted an email proposal to board members prior to the conference call. CWAE's request was to support travel for international women graduate students attending the 1999 AAEA meeting in Nashville. The proposal was approved for $2,000, with the provision that recipients submit a written report on benefits they received from the Annual Meeting.

   Motion: John Schnittker moved to approve the proposal. Seconded by Paul Christ. Approved.

3. Lona Christoffers provided a brief review of the financial report. Discussion was lead by Gary Seevers. J.B. Penn was requested to present the one-page report from Vanguard regarding the investment guidelines at the next conference call/meeting. (This was presented to the AAEA Executive Board following their November 1998 meeting.)

   Christoffers reported the 1998 Annual Report was near completion. The Board members requested an advance copy.

4. Coffey began the discussion on the status of fund raising for the Capital Campaign. Christoffers reported on the contributions. The board members agreed they would increase their efforts to meet the goal set in November. Coffey will prepare a follow-up letter to all prospects on the Capital Campaign list who have not responded, stressing the following:
   

   Multiple year giving
   One-time effort
   Offering lower threshold of $500.
   Introduce donor levels of - Leader -$1,000 plus, Eagle - $500-$999.

   Steps for follow-up were developed from the discussion. Letters will be mailed from the AAEA office with Coffey's signature and forwarded to the contact board member for a co-signature, included will be a listing of the current Appreciation Clubs. Foundation Board members will forward names of their prospective contributors from the list, and any additional names, to Christoffers. (Board members were asked to add potential givers to their personal contact list.) Christoffers was requested to send weekly reports by email to the board members on fund raising progress. The board also requested Dunn to call the Foundation Board members to track their progress on the (second effort) follow-up calls of the Foundation Fundraiser letter.

5. Discussion on new appreciation clubs was lead by Coffey and Seevers. The following was agreed upon:
   • Seevers will send a letter to the Paarlberg Club organizing committee (Bob Thompson, Carroll Brunthaver, Bob Jones and Dawson Ahalt), to encourage their involvement.
   • Doering will create a form letter for the Paarlberg Club.
   • Christ and Boehlje will contact Jim Houck and Burt Sundquist to form an organizing committee for the Raup Club.
   • Seevers will prepare a "how to" memo for club organizers with tips on organizing an Appreciation Club.

   Preliminary steps for Appreciation Clubs and Phase II of the Capital Campaign were also discussed.

6. Coffey introduced his proposal for an AAEA sponsored essay contest. It would be comparable to one sponsored fifty years ago. The board agreed it should be an executive board project. Bob Taylor will take the proposal to the Association Board meeting on February 26^th.

7. Christoffers presented two selections for a Foundation fund-raising event for the 1999 AAEA Annual Meeting in Nashville. The board approved the fund-raiser. AAEA will work out final details and will present them at the next meeting. The AAEA staff will also design the Foundation Booth for the Annual Meeting.

8. Additional business brought to discussion was the proposed exhibitor sponsorship at the Annual Meeting, AAEA staff was requested to follow-up. Also discussed was the Farm Credit System funding for the FarmCredit /AAEA Foundation scholarship. This received approval from the board for another year. Follow-up is needed with the Industry Committee to determine their need of allocated funding. Luzar will report at the next conference call.

   The conference call/meeting was adjourned at 4:25. The next conference call/meeting is May 19th, 3:00 p.m. CST.

Respectfully submitted,
Donna French Dunn
Executive Director