President's Letter

I have been honored to be selected as your President for two years starting at the April 26, 2003 board meeting.

My initial priority is to strengthen the fundraising process. We are fortunate to have a substantial endowment from bequests, but the yield from the endowment, currently valued at $2.7 million, has in recent years been insufficient to fully support yearly operations. We have very good publications and other programs. To retain and expand them to better serve our members, we need to increase our income.

We need to identify the foundations, corporations, and individual philanthropists interested in groups such as ours and learn what kinds of programs they tend to support. I am very pleased to report that Marvin Ehlers, a retired business executive from suburban Deerfield, has accepted the chairmanship of the reactivated fundraising committee. In recognition of the importance of this work, he has been selected as President Pro Tern of our Society. Marvin has recently served as chairman of the Marker Committee. In that capacity, he has obtained a grant from the Walgreen Company.

We are also fortunate that some experienced fundraisers, including former presidents of our Society, have agreed to serve on that committee. While the Society's paid staff will do much of the work, I intend to be active in these matters and expect that all Board members will find a way to participate.

However, the Society has not been dormant in fundraising recently. Our Centennial Awards Committee has done a fine job finding corporate underwriting for the Society's Centennial Banquet, held each year in Chicago since 1984. More than 1,000 Illinois businesses and other organizations have achieved or surpassed a century of continuous operation and been recognized by the program.

I am also pleased to report we will continue to have the able services of Finance Committee chair John Power, a publisher in downstate Jacksonville, and Treasurer Arthur Martin, a lawyer from Chicago, in developing our budget and overseeing our finances.

Vital to fundraising is a planning process. We need to define clearly who we are and where we want to go. As a step in this direction, I have drafted a Statement of Goals designed to guide our Society for at least the next three years. Members of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board discussed this draft at the April meeting. I expect the Board will adopt its official Statement of Goals by the end of this year. I will be glad to send a copy of this draft to any member who requests it, and I encourage your comments.

David W. Scott, Ph.D.

Springfield