The board discussed the following:
- Nominating Committee:The Board voted to approve the following to serve on the Nominating Committee. Many thanks to all!
- Stacie Kendall, chair,
- Reiko Nagese
- Wako Onodera
- Ritsuko Watanabe
- Sangita Das
- Nadia El Borai
- Sandra Lee Godoy
- Use of CWAJ Google Workspace. Amy Fujii, Archivist and Google Manager, led a Board discussion about next steps, regarding the move to set up a CWAJ account on Google Workspace as the official archive and collaborative workspace for the elected and appointed board. At the last board meeting it was decided that the Google Workspace will be centrally managed by an Administrator. At the April Board Meeting, the Board discussed and agreed that, once the CWAJ Google Workspace is up and running, elected and appointed board members will be expected to use CWAJ Google email addresses for CWAJ communications and to use Google Drive to store all CWAJ related documents. These steps will streamline efforts to organize and track past plans, budgets and activities and also provide a useful means by which current board members can pass on information to incoming board members.
- 2025-26 Budget. Tomoko Toda, Assistant Treasurer, recommended approval of a budget for 2025-26 of JPY19.5 million. The budget goal is to raise 14 million yen for scholarships in 2027. It includes an increase of 665,000 JPY for activities related to the board’s additional goals to increase membership, brand recognition, in -person meetings and reduction in the administrative load on volunteers. The budget also includes an additional JPY2 million for another NJG scholar in 2025. This additional scholarship was made possible by the generous donations by members using the Japan Foundation tax deductible option. These funds must be used to support women whose degrees are related to cultural exchange (no math or science. The Board approved this amendment. For questions, contact Suz Wilkinson, Director of Scholarship.
- Contingency Fund. The board discussed whether the amount of funds that are set aside for the Contingency Fund is sufficient. Currently JPY24,890,000 are reserved for use during emergencies. No vote was taken.
- Proposals
– The Board approved a proposal that JPY2 million be made available to Scholarship to fund a third NJG scholarship in 2025.
– Two proposals were discussed that will be voted on in the fall by the membership. The first proposal would amend the Constitution to change the name of the Education Committee to “Community Service Committee”. The second proposal would amend the Constitution to delete guidelines for membership “tiers” from the Constitution and exemption of dues for past Presidents {and move them to SP&P]
