THE OAS HOLDS A NATIONAL ANTI

SUBJECT: Guidelines for Disbursing Emergency Grants and Loans from the Rowe Memorial Benefit Fund

That the Rowe Memorial Benefit Fund (the “Fund”) was established as a trust by the former Director General of the Pan American Union, Dr. Leo S. Rowe, to “be used for purposes within the Pan American field, and with particular interest in loans to students, loans to employees, and welfare and emergency needs of employees of the Union.”

That in 1955, Dr. William Manger, then Assistant Secretary General, established the Rowe Memorial Benefit Fund Committee to further the purposes of the Fund. The Committee consists of a representative of the Secretary General (currently the Assistant Secretary for Management), a representative of the Department of Human Resource Services (currently its Director), the Director of the Department of Financial Services, the staff representative on the OAS Retirement and Pension Committee, and the President of the Staff Association, with a representative of the Department of Legal Services (currently its Director) serving as Legal Advisor to the Committee.

That, since its establishment, money from the Fund has gone to employees of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (“GS/OAS”) and also to other individuals who are not GS/OAS employees but who were within the general purview of the Pan American field. For example, Fund money has been used for: A loan to a needy student from Latin America; Payments to make restitution for losses and thefts; Temporary salary adjustments for employees of the Pan American Union; Health and accident insurance for GS/OAS employees; Services of a part-time physician for GS/OAS employees at GS/OAS headquarters; Incentive awards to reward GS/OAS staff members for outstanding service to the GS/OAS; Purchase of an electrocardiogram machine (EKG) for the GS/OAS Health Unit; Purchase of a wig for the severely ill adult daughter of a GS/OAS staff member; Payment for medical tests for the adult son of a GS/OAS staff member; Payment for medical treatment of a “local-local” contractee in a GS/OAS’ national office who was injured in a traffic accident and who did not have health insurance; Payment of part of the costs to help reconstruct the home of a GS/OAS staff member that was destroyed by an earthquake; Payment of part of the costs to help reconstruct the home of a “local-local” that was destroyed by an earthquake; and Payment of the medical bills of the son of the holder of a GS/OAS Performance Contract (“CPR”) and payment of one year of the CPR’s health insurance premium in the GS/OAS-provided health care program for CPR’s.

That there is a need for the Committee to have written guidelines setting out the purposes of the Fund and the manner in which emergency grants and loans may be asked for and obtained.

1. In accordance with Dr. Rowe’s wishes, money from the Fund may be used for emergency grants and loans to GS/OAS staff members and to other persons within the general purview of the Pan American field. While Dr. Rowe did not restrict or limit the form of support, the Committee will normally only disperse money from the Fund in the form of grants. Such grants usually shall only be made to applicants from the OAS extended family (e.g., GS/OAS staff members and their family members, holders of local contracts in GS/OAS offices and their family members, and GS/OAS retirees, etc.).

2. As a general guideline, each grant application should be sponsored by a full-time GS/OAS staff member who can attest to the validity of the facts and conditions giving rise to the request. In those rare situations where there is no sponsor, the applicant must explain in his/her application why he/she has no GS/OAS sponsor. The Committee may appoint an ad-hoc researcher to obtain the necessary information, and it may also appoint an ad-hoc researcher with regard to any other funding request.

3. In order to apply for an emergency grant, an applicant must fill out, sign, and date, the application form attached hereto (or any subsequent form approved by the Rowe Memorial Benefit Fund Committee (hereinafter the “Committee), and submit it to the Director of the Department of Human Resource Services (hereinafter “DHRS”).

4. Upon receipt of the emergency request, the Director of DHRS shall, within no more than two business days thereafter, inform the Chairperson of the Committee (hereinafter the “Chair”) that a request has been received and forward the original of the request to the Chair.

5. Upon receipt of the request, the Chair shall call a meeting of the Committee, which shall be scheduled for no later than 5 business days after the Chair’s receipt of the request.

6. The Committee shall consider the request and shall promptly decide, in accordance with Dr. Rowe’s general purposes for the Fund, the financial status of the Fund, and the provisions of Paragraphs 7, 13, and 14, below, as to whether to grant the request in whole or in part. In doing so, the Committee may make such other decisions regarding the request and obtain such other information as the Committee deems appropriate.

7. In making its decision, the Committee shall take into account the following factors:

· The fact that generally, the request for funding should be to support an individual (and/or a member of his/her family), as opposed to a group of individuals, and should normally originate from an unforeseen catastrophic or serious event or occurrence not covered for all or the most part by insurance or by some other form of significant alleviation;

· That, generally, the grant should be dedicated to alleviate a one-time need and not to solve a continuous or recurrent condition;

8. All decisions by the Committee are final and unappealable, and shall be made by a majority vote of the total members of the Committee.

9. The Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure and meeting schedules; provided, however, that the proceedings of the Committee shall be confidential and that each Committee member shall agree, as a condition to accepting membership, that he/she will never divulge the internal Committee deliberations.

10. Donations from GS/OAS staff members, retirees, and their families should be established as an important source of income for the Fund.

11. In January of each year, the Director of the DHRS, after consultation with the Committee, shall inform all GS/OAS staff members and retirees about the Fund, including, for example, the background of the Fund and its purposes, the requirements and procedures for making grant applications, and details on how to make contributions to the Fund.

12. The DHRS shall be responsible for coordinating and administering the delivery of the grants and loans, maintaining the records necessary to meet the Fund reporting requirements, and also acting as Technical Secretary to the Rowe Memorial Benefit Fund.

13. In January of each year, the Committee shall meet to establish a maximum amount of money from the Fund that may be used in granting funding requests from applicants during that calendar year.

14. Normally, the Committee shall not disburse more than ten percent (10%) of the Fund’s assets in any calendar year.

This Administrative Memorandum supersedes any contrary provision, regulation, or practice of the General Secretariat.

This Administrative Memorandum shall take effect on the date on which it is signed.

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This form will be used by the Rowe Memorial Benefit Fund Committee in considering requests for emergency grants made by GS/OAS staff members and by other persons within the general purview of the Pan American field as envisioned by the Fund’s founder, Dr. Leo S. Rowe.

The applicant must fill out Sections I, II, and IV of this form. Please note that in Section III, the applicant is requested to include the name and signature of a full-time GS/OAS staff member who can attest to the validity of the facts and conditions giving rise to the request. (If the applicant has no such sponsor, the applicant must explain in writing why there is none.) Once this form is completed, the applicant may then mail, fax, or hand-deliver it to the Director, Department of Human Resource Services.

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Full Name of applicant: __________________________________________________________________

Mailing address of applicant: ______________________________________________________________

Telephone number where applicant can be contacted: __________________________________________

State your connection, if any, with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

State the emergency purpose(s) for which the grant is requested, the amount of money requested, and why you are unable to pay for the emergency without receipt of the grant. (If additional space is needed, add an additional page or pages and sign and date each such additional page.) As appropriate, attach documentation supporting your request for the grant (e.g., copies of medical bills):

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Section III: This Section is to be filled out by the GS/OAS Sponsor of this request. In the blank space after the word “I” in the first line, type or print in block letters the full name of your Sponsor.

I, ___________________________, am a full-time staff member of the GS/OAS. I state that to the best of my knowledge and belief, all of the statements made by the applicant as to the facts and conditions giving rise to the request are true and fully accurate.

Note: If there is no Sponsor, the applicant must attach a signed and dated written statement explaining why not. _____________________________________________________________________________________

I certify that the statements made by me in Sections I and II, above, and in any attachments that I have annexed to this form, are to the best of my knowledge and belief, true and fully accurate.

Request for Emergency Grant from the Rowe Memorial Benefit Fund