10. New Business

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Please post New Business that you would like considered by the governors at this meeting.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Is there any support for making a one time increase in the Kalev Pugi fund from the $820 or so available this year to $1600 or even $1800 for this year? The trustees for this fund would make all decisions on how these extra funds would be awarded. It seems to me that when we have a particularly successful year as we did with the Ottawa CYCC and which we will have with Montreal's CYCC this year that maybe we should bump up the awards under this program. It could be used to help some of our kids achieve some norms. Any thoughts?

[Michael Barron]

Is there any support for making a one time increase in the Kalev Pugi fund from the $820 or so available this year to $1600 or even $1800 for this year? The trustees for this fund would make all decisions on how these extra funds would be awarded. It seems to me that when we have a particularly successful year as we did with the Ottawa CYCC and which we will have with Montreal's CYCC this year that maybe we should bump up the awards under this program. It could be used to help some of our kids achieve some norms. Any thoughts?

Yes, Vlad, it's a great idea!

In addition, I would suggest to discuss at this Meeting how we're going to spend $6000 allocated for NAYCC.
In particular, I would suggest to send a Team coach with the Canadian delegation to NAYCC - on similar to WYCC conditions.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Yes, Vlad, it's a great idea!

In addition, I would suggest to discuss at this Meeting how we're going to spend $6000 allocated for NAYCC.
In particular, I would suggest to send a Team coach with the Canadian delegation to NAYCC - on a similar to WYCC conditions.

I am glad you like it! I will need at least two governors to make a motion to that effect. Under the current rules the president is supposed to chair the meeting and not to make motions though of course I have taken the lead on the NFP act file.

With a two round a day tournament there is less time for the coach to make much of an impact unless he is already very familiar with the kids in question. Part of the budget will be spent by providing the few top three CYCC finishers who will not have an opportunity for an official player status the equivalent benefit which is about $300 per player. I think this is the way for us to keep the promise implied in the handbook. I had expected that we might do this for about ten kids but at the moment we don't have nearly that many. It looks like it will be closer to three or four. We have had discussions about possibly sending coaches but the early feedback was that it might not be the best way to allocate our resources. There are also some issues that arise with sending coaches. Once we get a complete picture of who is going with respect to the players we'll be able to consult the parents and chart a course. I don't think we should impose our will on this group without consulting them. If we do wind up sending coaches they should think in terms of an honorarium and not an all expenses paid trip and an honorarium as we did for WYCC.

As an aside, your email suggestion for a coach was excellent.

I am not certain that we will spend the whole amount allocated to NAYCC and this was another reason to look at bumping up the Pugi fund. Just because we have a certain amount allocated doesn't mean that we have to spend it unless we are getting a good return on it. And by a good return I mean an enhanced experience for the children and their parents.

The timing of this NAYCC tournament is a bit unfortunate in that it conflicts with exams for potential participants from both Ontario and Quebec and with the additional uncertainty that exam schedules are not set for many students. I have been told by more than one very strong player that they can't attend for this reason. Others hesitated while they scrambled to make special arrangements with their schools for the students' exams.

[Valer Eugen Demian]

Is there any support for making a one time increase in the Kalev Pugi fund from the $820 or so available this year to $1600 or even $1800 for this year? The trustees for this fund would make all decisions on how these extra funds would be awarded. It seems to me that when we have a particularly successful year as we did with the Ottawa CYCC and which we will have with Montreal's CYCC this year that maybe we should bump up the awards under this program. It could be used to help some of our kids achieve some norms. Any thoughts?

Excellent idea! $820 is not a lot of money to split when there are a few valid applications for funds. I can make a motion to increase it to whatever amount we can afford; just please let me know!

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Excellent idea! $820 is not a lot of money to split when there are a few valid applications for funds. I can make a motion to increase it to whatever amount we can afford; just please let me know!

Please do so. We can comfortably afford $1,000 extra this year. Given the growth in YCC's and the successful CYCC's in Ottawa and Montreal I think we can do that this year and we can look at doing it again next year. I believe that Michael Barron will work with you as he has already said that he likes the idea.

[Valer Eugen Demian]

Please do so. We can comfortably afford $1,000 extra this year. Given the growth in YCC's and the successful CYCC's in Ottawa and Montreal I think we can do that this year and we can look at doing it again next year. I believe that Michael Barron will work with you as he has already said that he likes the idea.

I would like to make a motion for a one time increase of this year's Kalev Pugi fund from $820 to $1,800 for the purpose of better supporting our youth in need.

Is anyone interested to second it, maybe Michael, Patrick, Lyle, Paul, others? We have around 4-5 applications at this time and any extra money would go a long way in helping those in need.

[Garland Best]

I second the motion.

[Ken Craft]

How much money is currently in the Pugi Fund?

[Bob Gillanders]

I would like to make a motion for a one time increase of this year's Kalev Pugi fund from $820 to $1,800 for the purpose of better supporting our youth in need.


Excuse me,.....you can not just arbitrarily increase the funds flowing from the Pugi fund.
It is a separate fund within the Foundation, and we are obligated to honour the wishes of the donor, Kalev Pugi.
As I understand it (maybe I am wrong), but the instructions to the trustees are that the earnings only ($820) are to be distributed annually to deserving youngsters, but that the principal portion be held in perpetuity.

I am not saying it isn't a good idea, just that we need to comply with the rules. May we hear from a Pugi fund trustee please.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Excuse me,.....you can not just arbitrarily increase the funds flowing from the Pugi fund.
It is a separate fund within the Foundation, and we are obligated to honour the wishes of the donor, Kalev Pugi.
As I understand it (maybe I am wrong), but the instructions to the trustees are that the earnings only ($820) are to be distributed annually to deserving youngsters, but that the principal portion be held in perpetuity.

I am not saying it isn't a good idea, just that we need to comply with the rules. May we hear from a Pugi fund trustee please.

As I understand from the first post: "when we have a particularly successful year as we did with the Ottawa CYCC and which we will have with Montreal's CYCC this year that maybe we should bump up the awards under this program. " the fund will be increased by transferring a portion of CYCC "earnings" to the fund. However, IIRC, the CYCC profit must go to the next year WYCC fund.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Excuse me,.....you can not just arbitrarily increase the funds flowing from the Pugi fund.

We are not arbitrarily increasing the funds flowing from the Pugi fund. We are taking funds out of the youth fund and asking the trustees of the Pugi fund to award these funds to worthy youth projects according to the criteria that they follow when making awards from the Pugi fund.



It is a separate fund within the Foundation, and we are obligated to honour the wishes of the donor, Kalev Pugi.

We fully intend to follow his wishes. The Kalev Pugi fund will not be adversely affected by this if the governors approve it.



As I understand it (maybe I am wrong), but the instructions to the trustees are that the earnings only ($820) are to be distributed annually to deserving youngsters, but that the principal portion be held in perpetuity.

My argument for running this $1000 through the Pugi committee is that they are already set up for this and familiar with potential applications. We had a record influx of funds to the youth fund from the extra players at WYCC 2013 and I expect that we will have a record amount of income into this fund from YCC's over the last year leading up to CYCC. Previously the CFC did not really make any significant money on the YCC's. Putting the money in a checking account at zero percent interest when we can help kids attend tournaments at a key moment in their development seems to me to be a better investment of the funds.

If we can't do something extra for the kids when we are relatively healthy when will we do it?



I am not saying it isn't a good idea, just that we need to comply with the rules. May we hear from a Pugi fund trustee please.

If I am not mistaken, I believe that we already have heard from one of them who is the author of this motion.

[Bob Gillanders]

We are not arbitrarily increasing the funds flowing from the Pugi fund. We are taking funds out of the youth fund and asking the trustees of the Pugi fund to award these funds to worthy youth projects according to the criteria that they follow when making awards from the Pugi fund.


Oh...okay, thanks for clarifying that....thumbs up!

[Fred McKim]

I think the intent was to supplement the regular Pugi grant(s) with money from the CYCC account to total $1600.

[Valer Eugen Demian]

Yes, the intent was to supplement what was available or $820. This is not much to work with and it is hard to divide it and make a difference indeed!

[Valer Eugen Demian]

On a related topic, I would like to propose for discussion how we manage the Kalev Pugi fund. This fund has not been very publicized or known by the general public in the past, so I would like to see a few improvements to make it more transparent:
- Money available each year should be published on the website as soon as they are known
- The applications received should be public as well
- Once the funds are awarded, this should also be public knowledge
- Anything else we have not covered yet

Patrick McDonald, Lyle Craver and myself (in charge with this fund beginning last year) have already had preliminary discussions about this move toward transparency. What we would like to know is how the executive and governors see this intention and get some feedback of any sort. This might lead to a motion at the next meeting and a positive development into managing this fund better. Looking forward to your reactions! :)

[Bob Gillanders]

On a related topic, I would like to propose for discussion how we manage the Kalev Pugi fund. This fund has not been very publicized or known by the general public in the past, so I would like to see a few improvements to make it more transparent:
- Money available each year should be published on the website as soon as they are known
- The applications received should be public as well
- Once the funds are awarded, this should also be public knowledge
- Anything else we have not covered yet

Patrick McDonald, Lyle Craver and myself (in charge with this fund beginning last year) have already had preliminary discussions about this move toward transparency. What we would like to know is how the executive and governors see this intention and get some feedback of any sort. This might lead to a motion at the next meeting and a positive development into managing this fund better. Looking forward to your reactions! :)

Valer, I think all of us would appreciate a report from the trustees at these quarterly meetings.
Thread #6 - Officer & Committee reports would be the right place.
If you have a report ready,....there no time like the present. :)

I'm sure the ED can find a spot on the website for your reports.
In addition to what you have listed, I would include instructions to parents on how to apply for funds.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

On a related topic, I would like to propose for discussion how we manage the Kalev Pugi fund. This fund has not been very publicized or known by the general public in the past, so I would like to see a few improvements to make it more transparent:
- Money available each year should be published on the website as soon as they are known
- The applications received should be public as well
- Once the funds are awarded, this should also be public knowledge
- Anything else we have not covered yet

Patrick McDonald, Lyle Craver and myself (in charge with this fund beginning last year) have already had preliminary discussions about this move toward transparency. What we would like to know is how the executive and governors see this intention and get some feedback of any sort. This might lead to a motion at the next meeting and a positive development into managing this fund better. Looking forward to your reactions! :)

I think those are all good ideas. I am not going to be as verbose as I am posting from a hotel room in the dark on my netbook. Pardon any typos. Should have brought my laptop.

[Paul Leblanc]

Valer, I support your idea 110%. I also support Vlad's suggestion.
At the end of each fiscal year I send the CFC office a cheque for the income generated by the Pugi Fund. The trustees consider applications and make their decisions known to the CFC office for the actual payment to successful applicants. In the last couple of years the trustees decided to award the money to the juniors on the Canadian Olympiad Team because otherwise the team was in jeopardy of not being sufficiently funded. There were, I think 3 or 4 juniors on the team each year.
The CFC office maintains a historical list of successful applicants on the CFC website. However, the details of how applications are solicited and considered definitely need to be better defined and better advertised.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I would like to make a motion for a one time increase of this year's Kalev Pugi fund from $820 to $1,800 for the purpose of better supporting our youth in need.

Is anyone interested to second it, maybe Michael, Patrick, Lyle, Paul, others? We have around 4-5 applications at this time and any extra money would go a long way in helping those in need.

Garland has seconded it. I would ask Lyle to add this to the motions to be voted upon during this April meeting. My understanding is that we will transfer an additional $980 from the youth fund to the disbursement to be decided by the Kalev Pugi fund trustees through their usual process of deliberation and making the award on these matters.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

The motion should mention where monies came from.
Do we have the Youth committee report / opinion of the money transfer?

I see that it is not within Handbook rules.

"714. Organization:

{Original Replaced By - Motion Palsson/Doubleday 2007-08 GL1 From AGM}, The CFC shall retain 10% of all monies received for administrative expenses such as VISA charges, I.D. calls, office and all other expenses. $75 of each paid entry shall go to the local organizer for their expenses in providing the playing site, tournament directors and all other expenses. The balance of the monies received shall go to the CYCC fund which shall be used to pay the travel expenses or a portion of the travel expenses of the participants in the WYCC. Any surplus monies shall be retained by the CFC to cover any losses incurred in the CYCC program for prior years or to be held to fund travel for future CYCC events where there is a shortfall.

Where the fund available to send winners to the WYCC is insufficient to fund 100% of the travel, then the amount available shall be divided amongst the participants who will be responsible for making up the shortfall by forwarding the amount to the CFC business office before the airline ticket for that particpant is purchased."

IMHO, the CYCC shall not be a money cow for all CFC programs.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

IMHO, the CYCC shall not be a money cow for all CFC programs.

It is not. There were funds generated by YCC's and also funds generated by extra fees for WYCC extra players. These funds should be expended for youth initiatives and not permanently disappear into co-mingled funds in the CFC's short term bank account which generates no interest. Lets quit being misers and spend some tiny amount of the funds generated every year in order to further our nominal aims which are to promote chess and provide opportunities to young players especially our elite youth chess players.

[Paul Leblanc]

I support this motion

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Thank you Paul. I think recent bad financial years have made us a bit shy about committing funds to anything no matter how worthy. I would like to see the CFC do more in this area. We have to address the uncertainties in our present situation of course but as a general guideline we should focus on doing things which further our reasons for existing. We are a non-profit so accumulating money should not be our primary focus except to the extent that that accumulation assists us in the pursuit of our goals of promoting chess and chess play. If we aren't furthering our true purpose then there is no point in having that money. If we were to dissolve the CFC any surplus after we pay off debts (primarily unresolved obligations to the life members and contractual obligations with respect to the Executive director) goes to charities that have nothing to do with chess in all likelihood.

The funny thing is that if we actually concentrate on our primary aim the money flow often improves because people will support us if they see that we are making a positive contribution. That is my working theory and so far it seems to be working for the CFC.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I thought that I should let the governors and general public know that I intend to run for a second term as CFC president at the next AGM. I hope to tie off any loose ends with respect to the new NFP act and also to get the chance to work on some of the things that I originally took the job as CFC president in order to achieve.

[Michael Barron]

There were funds generated by YCC's and also funds generated by extra fees for WYCC extra players. These funds should be expended for youth initiatives and not permanently disappear into co-mingled funds in the CFC's short term bank account which generates no interest. Lets quit being misers and spend some tiny amount of the funds generated every year in order to further our nominal aims which are to promote chess and provide opportunities to young players especially our elite youth chess players.

This is right approach!

Maybe we could send a Canadian Team to World Youth Chess Olympiad ?
If we could send such players as Richard Wang, Razvan Preotu, Michael Song, and, let's say, Adam Dorrance and Stirling Dorrance as a Captain - or Olivier Kenta Chiku-Ratte and Felix Dumont as a Captain - or Mark Plotkin and Victor Plotkin as a Captain - or Diwen Shi and Edward Porper as a Captain - or Jason Cao and Maxim Doroshenko as a Captain - such Team could compete for Olympiad medals...

[Vladimir Drkulec]

This is right approach!

Maybe we could send a Canadian Team to World Youth Chess Olympiad ?
If we could send such players as Richard Wang, Razvan Preotu, Michael Song, and, let's say, Adam Dorrance and Stirling Dorrance as a Captain - or Olivier Kenta Chiku-Ratte and Felix Dumont as a Captain - or Mark Plotkin and Victor Plotkin as a Captain - or Diwen Shi and Edward Porper as a Captain - or Jason Cao and Maxim Doroshenko as a Captain - such Team could compete for Olympiad medals...


If it is in a safe place and we can figure out a way to pay for it.... At the moment it doesn't seem to be listed on the FIDE calendar. Previously it was in a very unsafe place.