Official National JETAA USA Fund Established

Posted on March 15, 2011 by JETAA USA

I know that many of you have been awaiting next steps on a national JETAA USA fund. We’ve been in correspondence with JETAANY and JETAANC to work on a way to run a national fund through one of our 501c3’s (just found out that Great Lakes is one, as well!). After a lot of email conversations and a considerable amount of due diligence, JETAANY has graciously agreed to convert the JETAANY fund that was announced on Friday to the national JETAA USA fund!

The purpose of this fund is to bring the 19 U.S. chapters together in an organized and concerted effort to raise funds aimed at helping rebuild the affected areas in Japan. Instead of having 19 separate small funds, we felt that if we created a national initiative to drive fund-raising for Japan, it would bring together the JETAA USA community and inspire more overall participation from JET alumni in America.

In an earlier posting, the idea of sending a group of JET alums over to Japan to help with on-the-ground aid was considered. While the desire to be there in person to support Japan and its people during a time like this is very sincere, we realize the logistics and reality of it may be a bit lofty and far off for now. In light of this, we’ll table that idea and focus on raising funds, 100% of which will go towards relief efforts in Japan.

We encourage all 19 chapters to join this effort. We realize all chapters have differing levels of capabilities. No matter what you do and on what level you do it, it will be helpful and appreciated and will contribute to our national, collective effort. We will give all chapters which donate to this national fund a voice and a vote in how we use them. It will be a one-chapter, one-vote situation with a 2/3 majority deciding the outcome. The amount of money your chapter raises and adds to the pot will not reflect on the voting power your chapter has. Of course, the more you can raise, the more awesome you are.

Ideas for how these funds can be utilized or how they should be gifted will be a collective effort. We will canvas chapters for ideas, present the ideas to all chapters involved in the fundraising and then take a vote. Watch your inboxes and the google group forum for emails coming from that direction as well. It’s the best way for us to reach all officers and we will be relying on chapter presidents to be at the helm of local chapter organization.

Kelly Nixon, JETAANY treasurer, was able to get PayPal to agree to waive all transaction feeds from March 11 to April 10. Here is the link: http://bit.ly/jetaausarelief

If you’re chapter is interested in embedding this information and a direct donation link to your webpage, please email Rod directly for the embedded code.  -Rod & Jessyca

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8 Responses to Official National JETAA USA Fund Established

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  2. Pingback: Donate to the National JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund | JETAANY.org

  3. Melanie says:
    March 15, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    If I prefer not to use paypal, can I mail a check?

  4. Sabrina Fesko says:
    March 16, 2011 at 6:19 am

    I think this is a wonderful idea and will donate. Do we know if any current JETs have been affected and how we might be able to help them?

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  6. Theresa-JETAASE says:
    March 16, 2011 at 11:39 am

    Love the idea of a JETAA USA fund, but it’s important for me to know what the fund will be used for before I contribute. Would love to see support for children or for eduction, in line with the JET program values.

  7. Pingback: Huge earthquake, tsunamis hit Japan « Gaijin Teacher Otaku

  8. RodM says:
    March 16, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    All great questions. I’m compiling an frequently asked questions (FAQ) document that will hopefully answer all of your questions. It should be posted tonight.

    I’ve also created a page for basic fund information which can be found above as a tab, or you can go to: http://bit.ly/jetaausarelief.

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