here - Stichting Mensa Fonds

From:
Mensa Fonds The Netherlands
www. mensafonds.nl
Report to IBD 2014
September 2014 - London
A flying start
On April 20th 2013, the Mensa Fonds (Mensa Foundation The Netherlands) was launched during
the AGM of Mensa The Netherlands. The Foundation is recognized as a charity by the Tax
authorities, so that donations to the foundation are tax deductible. Another advantage of this
separate foundation is that we can raise funds outside the Mensa circle and that we are
transparent to non-members on the activities we develop, the income and the way we spend
our money. A policy of Mensa The Netherlands is that Mensa shall not sponsor not-for-profit
organizations, that is a matter for the individual members.
Annual Business Meeting April 20th 2013: those in favor please raise your hand… Public notary seen on the back.
Fund raising
The foundation got off to a flying start thanks to a starter donation from Mensa The
Netherlands and the 23 Foundation's 'Founding Friends', who all donated 1,000 euro each in
the first year. During 2013, several people started spontaneous initiatives to support the
foundation. As part of Mensa The Netherlands 50th 'Gold' Anniversary: a 'Gold Concert' and a
'Gold Pin-Up Calendar' were initiatives that raised funds. The farewell party of the chairman of
Mensa in 2013 also raised funds for the Foundation. These initiatives are proof of the wide
support for the Foundation.
The “club of 100” is a new initiative to create a community of people who want to commit
themselves to the Foundation for a number of years. You can become a member when you
donate euro 100 and 100 minutes a year for a period of five years. The 100 minutes can be
spent by giving a presentation, recruiting new sponsors or explaining the purpose of the
Foundation to friends and family. This will create a community of committed people and
safeguard a steady money flow for a number of years. Commitment and community building
are key elements for the success of the Fonds in the long run.
The internal design
In the first 6-9 months a great part of our energy was spent in designing and documenting our
internal business processes. It takes time to design an award nomination process and to design
the criteria for a selection process. We also had to design and implement a process to handle
funding requests for special projects. We trust that the careful design and the internal
discussion we had have led to a robust framework.
Award program
The first Mensa Foundation Awards were presented in November 2013. There are three awards;
in the category 'Education' , in the category 'Work' and the category 'Society'. The winner in
the category Work was Wilbert Paulissen, head of the Team High Tech Crime unit of the
National Police. The winner in the category Society was the well-known tv-personality Dolores
Leeuwin, the winner in the category Education was a team of two people who set up an
additional education program for highly gifted children. The nomination statements gathered
together many inspiring stories of how the talents of highly intelligent people can be
harnessed. It generated good publicity for the Foundation and the gifted people in general at
low cost. The next award party will be 1st November this year.
Jury chairperson and awardshow host Leila Prnjavorac (left) and Mensa Fonds chairperson Angela Riddering
(right)
Funding projects related to highly giftedness
So far we received 11 requests for (partly) funding special project related to the highly gifted.
Four requests were approved.
Projects 2014
Grey Gold
We are exploring the “grey gold”. There is no publicity for highly gifted people living in a home
for the aged or nursing homes. This group of old people is growing and “is forgotten”. There is
an enormous potential what these people can offer to the Society and we just “put them
away”? We contacted a number of “zorginstellingen” and they are keen to cooperate with us.
We emphasize on connecting parties e.g. old age home and university. We foresee that we can
jointly develop products for this age category. There will be a pilot in 2014 and we may roll this
out in 2015. The first findings are very positive.
Future cooperation
Two organizations that are active in the field of high-giftedness approached us for possible
cooperation. They both look very promising; however, so fare we have decided to prioritize the
structure of our internal organization to alliances. A very promising contact is the one with the
American Mensa Foundation. That organization has been an inspiration to us and we are very
grateful for the support they have given us.
Full speed ahead !
We had a great start and continue to be successful for the Mensa Fonds. We intend to continue
at this pace during the next few years in order to achieve more of our goals.
Respectfully submitted,
Angela Riddering
Chairperson Mensa Fonds
[email protected]
(donors give with their hart)

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