MCLC: AAS Small Grant Award fund-raiser

Denton, Kirk denton.2 at osu.edu
Fri Oct 19 09:08:41 EDT 2012


MCLC LIST
From: David Strand <strand at dickinson.edu>
Subject: AAS Small Grant Award fund-raiser
****************************************************

 Dear China and Inner Asia Studies Colleague,

I am writing to you as Chair of the China and Inner Asia Council in an
appeal for financial help for a program that is critical to the support of
research in our field: the annual Small Grants Awards administered by our
Council. (If you have received this message from someone else, please
forgive the duplication.)   Please see below for information on how you
can help to make a big difference in the careers of fellow scholars who
need our assistance. You may also go directly to the AAS website for
donations to the CIAC Small Grants Awards fund at
https://www.asian-studies.org/about/donate.htm#form.

Before joining the CIAC last year I didn¹t know much about this fund.  I
now believe participating in the Small Grants Awards process is one of the
most important tasks I have been involved in in my professional life. The
awards are indeed small: $2,000 and sometimes even less to support
research by advanced graduate students in completing their dissertations
and by faculty for a wide array of projects.  Most of the awardees are
young (more than half of the awards are given to graduate students) and
many of the faculty recipients have positions at colleges and universities
where research funds are limited or nonexistent.  These small grants
provide, for example, an air ticket to a research site in China or the
extra funds needed to make possible a workshop for graduate students on
local archives, complete a vital translation project or create a digital
archive. Receiving one of these grants brings welcome recognition by peers
of one¹s scholarly achievements. Time and again recipients have told us
that our grants have made the difference between finishing a dissertation
or other project on time and facing damaging and dispiriting delays to a
promising career.

Our basic problem is that as things stand now we are far from able to meet
fully the need for such support and recognition. At present we receive
over one hundred applications per year and, unfortunately, can approve
only about twenty.  Most of the time taken in our annual CIAC gathering at
the AAS convention is devoted to trying to figure out which few of many
worthy projects proposed can be funded.  There are always more than twenty
that certainly deserve a ³yes.² Indeed, a large number of truly
outstanding proposals are unable to receive funding.

The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation has long been the mainstay of the Small
Grants Awards program.  The CCK Foundation in fact recently increased its
contribution in response to the CIAC¹s request for more help.  However,
the CCK Foundation¹s signal generosity also served to remind Council
members that we as AAS members in the China and Inner Asia field should be
doing more ourselves.  We cannot appeal effectively to any large donor
unless we show that we as individual members value the Small Grants Awards
program. As a result, the CIAC, with the approval of the AAS leadership,
is making this appeal to establish an annual fund to increase the number
of Small Grants Awards we are able to offer each year.

Please join us now in this effort by making a generous, tax-deductible
contribution.  My wife Ceceile and I have contributed $500 for this year
and commit to budgeting $100 for each of the following five years.  We
obviously need participation from as many of us as possible in amounts
large and small to generate sufficient funds to make a real difference.
All of the money you contribute will go directly to Small Grants Award
recipients.

We all have other institutional affiliations that demand financial
contributions.  But here is a unique opportunity to provide immediate help
to colleagues in the ³invisible university² of China and Inner Asia
studies at a moment of need when budget cuts, job shortages, and
employment insecurity threaten.  Your financial contribution will give a
much-needed and well-deserved hand-up to fellow scholars and will enable
us to repay in some measure the moral and financial support we have each
received at critical points in our own careers.

                   
                     Sincerely yours

                   
                     Dave Strand, 2012-13 Chair, CIAC


    RESPONSE FORM
 
           The China and Inner Asia Small Grants Fund
            
 
 
Please make checks payable to the Association for Asian Studies,
indicating in the memo section that the contribution is for the CIAC Small
Grants Fund. 
 
The Association for Asian Studies is a 501(c)(3) corporation and your
contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
 
Please mail contributions with a copy of this form to:
 
CIAC Small Grants Fund
  Attn. Alicia Williams, Chief Financial Officer
Association for Asian Studies
825 Victors Way, Suite 310, Ann Arbor, MI 48108


 
______I am enclosing a contribution by check of:


 
$1,000 ______$500 _______ $250_____ $100______ Other $________
 
______I want to make a contribution by credit card of:
 
$1,000 ______$500 _______ $250_____ $100______ Other $________
 
To make a credit card donation, please go to our secure donate website:
https://www.asian-studies.org/about/donate.htm#form or print this form and
send the following information by mail to the AAS at the address above.
 
            Type of credit card:  American Express ____  MasterCard______
Visa_____
 
            Account Number:________________________    Expiration
Date:_________
 
Please provide the 3-digit security code found on the back of your credit
card: ________
 
Your credit card billing address:
 
Name: __________________________________________________________
 
Address: ________________________________________________________
 
City: ___________________State/Province: _____ Zip/Postcode:
______Country: ___
 
 
______If your employer offers matching gifts for employee donations,
please contact the appropriate office to determine the necessary steps.
If a matching gift is expected, please let us know the employer¹s name:
 
 
           Please keep this donation anonymous
 
Mailing address:
 
Name: __________________________________________________________
 
Address: ________________________________________________________
 
City: ___________________State/Province: _____ Zip/Postcode:
______Country: ___
 
Tel: ____________________E-Mail: __________________________________
 








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