The Third Meeting of the First Session of the NYU Shanghai Education Development Foundation Board

On November 2015, the third meeting of the first session of the NYU Shanghai Education Development Foundation Board was held in room 1429 at NYU Shanghai. The meeting was convened and presided over by the Executive Director of the Foundation Mr. Yilong Teng.

The Foundation's Secretary-General Rime Sun briefed board members on Foundation's work progress. Earlier this year, the Foundation underwent its first annual inspection requested by Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. Following the recommendations from the Civil Affairs Bureau and the auditing firm, the Foundation has developed a series of internal management procedures, according to which corresponding arrangements will be made on charitable expenditures.

One-third of the University's students so far have received scholarships or financial aids, on which the Foundation will continue to increase the spending. After the conclusion of the meeting, Secretary-General Rime Sun invited board members to participate in the annual NYU Shanghai Lighting the Way Scholarship Gala hosted by the Foundation. NYU Shanghai students, donors, the Foundation’s and University leadership gathered at the gala, where student recipients expressed their gratitude and talked with the donors, giving the donors an opportunity to know the university better.

In addition, the Foundation has officially launched its website in both Chinese and English version. Updates about the Foundation and NYU Shanghai are posted on this site every week or every other week. The public will have the access to past and current news since the founding of the Foundation. They will read about the voices from faculty, students, and donors, further understanding school's fundraising priorities through data and graphics, and the far-reaching impact of donations to the development of NYU Shanghai in the long run. Just by clicking "Give Now", visitors will be directed to the online donation webpage. After filling out basic information, donors can choose either  "online banking" or "bank transfer" as payment methods. Once the donation is received, the system will send a thank-you email under the name of the Foundation, with a donation number for future reference. The email will also be sent to the Foundation to keep donations well-managed and to archive the information. Two donations were received from a parent and a friend soon after the launching of the Foundation's website. This demonstrated that parents, alumni, and people from all walks of life have been watching NYU Shanghai and hope to get more involved in the development of the school.

All the board members at the meeting voted and approved, by a show of hands, Measures for Receiving, Managing, and Use of Donations by NYU Shanghai Education Development Foundation, Measures on Managing Gifts-in-Kind, Procedure for the Internal Management of Vouchers for Public Welfare Donations, Procedure for Initiating Payments and Obtaining Reimbursements, the Foundation's budget for FY 2016, Proposal on Fund Management Plan, and resolution for significant charitable spending.

Vice Chancellor Lehman then shared with board members the recent development of NYU Shanghai. Board members also discussed upon how to design more diversified giving methods and channels for donors.