BACKGROUND:
At the January 2015 Board meeting in Los Angeles, the Board listened to a presentation by Chuck Searcy of the Hoa Binh, Vietnam Chapter 160, and Paul Cox of VFP Chapter 69, San Francisco. The presentation centered on whether VFP should consider entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Project RENEW as the fiscal non profit sponsor. Project RENEW, established in 2001, is a cooperative partnership between the government of Quang Tri Province and international NGOs dedicated to restoring the environment and neutralizing the effects of war. VFP's fiscal sponsorship of RENEW would help facilitate RENEW's receipt of donations from individuals, groups, corporations or government entities like USAID.
At the time of its January 2015 meeting, the Board was aware that RENEW was interested in applying for a grant from the Leahy War Victims Fund, and that such a grant would be administered by USAID. The purpose of obtaining funding from the Leahy War Victims Fund was to provide assistance to the victims of Agent Orange. After discussing options, the Board voted 120 in favor of becoming RENEW's fiscal sponsor. The Board held a separate vote on whether VFP would act as fiscal sponsor should USAID ultimately agree to accept RENEW's grant application and issue funds to support RENEW's efforts to assist victims of Agent Orange.
After a thorough discussion, the Board voted 8 4 to act as fiscal sponsor for RENEW if it received the requested funding from USAID. During this time, the Board was advised that submission of concept papers (which precedes the filing of a grant application) would likely be due in April 2015,and VFP could expect an early decision on whether RENEW would be asked to submit a full application.
In voting to go forward with this process, the Board considered the possible receipt of funds from USAID as well its confidence in the members of Chapter 160 in Vietnam, in particular the work being done with RENEW by VFP member, Chuck Searcy. At the time Searcy was the international
advisor to RENEW.
UPDATE:
Unfortunately, in the past 1 1/2 years, RENEW has been unable to proceed with its USAID grant application. RENEW learned: Quang Tri Province, which was devastated by Agent Orange, was the Vietnamese province for which RENEW was seeking a grant, and is the province to which RENEW has dedicated much of its time and efforts, was not initially listed as one of the locations being considered for a USAID grant. Hence, RENEW's initial concept paper was rejected. At the insistence of Chapter 160 and RENEW Quang Tri was later added but by this time USAID already had allocated approximately $20 million to other groups and organizations in Vietnam.
RENEW decided not to submit a further concept paper. RENEW and members of Chapter 160 understandably felt a great sense of frustration.
With lack of funding and clear direction from USAID, and only a vague promise there might be funds available at the end of 2016 or sometime in 2017, Searcy concluded there would likely be no funding from USAID "in his lifetime".
At the Board's June 2016 conference call, the Board decided to revisit the issue of its commitment to RENEW. The Board carefully considered the issues set forth above including: (1) that RENEW was informed that USAID did not have funds available for this year sufficient to meet the needs of victims of Agent Orange; (2) the seeming lack of cooperation from USAID; (3) the board became aware that Chapter 160 was investigating some financial irregularities with the chapter’s finances and until that was resolved Searcy advised Project RENEW to seek another fiscal sponsor if they wanted to continue to seek funding from USAID; (4) because of Chapter 160’s ongoing investigation, the board did not believe it would be able to properly conduct oversight for any project regardless of the source of funding; and (5) the Board did not believe it appropriate for VFP to maintain an ongoing open ended commitment to a project that had little chance of coming to fruition. After discussion, the Board voted: 1101 to no longer act as fiscal sponsor for RENEW in the unlikely event that USAID might in the future issue a grant to RENEW and voted 822 to no longer act as fiscal sponsor for RENEW regardless of the source of funding. The Board hopes this update clarifies the status of the relationship between VFP and Project RENEW.
Barry Ladendorf
President, Board of Directors
Veterans For Peace