2004 ANNUAL REPORT
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Submitted by Robert B. Textor, Outgoing Chair
Jan 30, 2005

Members
Robert B. Textor, Chair (retiring 2004)
Sydel Silverman (incoming Chair-Designate)
James Peacock
Ernestine Friedl
Leni Silverstein (retiring 2004)

Incoming Members (December 2004)
Don Fowler
Linda Basch
William Heaney

Ex-Officio members
Elizabeth Brumfiel
Alan Goodman

AAA Staff
Sandy Berlin
Bill Davis

1. Charge of the Resource Development Committee (approved by the AAA Executive Board, May 2004) - To actively support AAA's development program through the formulation of strategies and activities that will serve to increase member and/or corporate contributions and/or gifts. Directly cultivate, solicit, and provide stewardship of AAA members through education, annual giving, planned giving, and other such efforts.

* Take responsibility for providing and/or raising financial support for the Association.

* Encourage AAA's leadership and members to make financial contributions to the Association.

* Recommend policy to the Executive Board on all matters related to development (e.g., annual giving, planned giving, major gifts, corporate solicitations).

* Develop a communications strategy that will increase member donations to AAA programs and activities.

* Accept direct development assignments related to the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of donors.

* Identify and recruit leadership and members to participate in raising pledges and member donations, and other AAA development activities or special development committees.

* Educate the Association's leadership on the techniques of planned giving, and member and corporate solicitations.

* Formulate development plans to support the AAA goals and objectives and present them to the Executive Board for approval (e.g., annual giving, planned giving, major gifts, corporate solicitations).

* Plan and review development activities to ensure progress toward achieving annual and long-range funding goals.

In FY2004, the RDC:
* Discussed the implications of the revised RDC charter and potential new members, and the staffing plan for Resource Development.

* Reviewed AAA Development Activities:

* AAA appears to be gradually fostering a culture of giving, as preliminary FY2004 figures indicate that total contributions, and the average size gift, have continued to increase from year to year. Contributions received FY2004 totaled $55.3k, versus $37.1k in FY2003. The size of the average gift increased by $50, from $90 to $140, in the same time period.

* AAA is developing a program to recognize donors who have continually contributed to the AAA since January 2001 through a Donor Wall and pins. At the present time, 4 categories exist: Founder's Society (cumulative donations over $20k); Centennial Guild ($4,000 - $19,999); Presidents Council ($1,500 - $3,999); and the Ambassadors Circle ($300 - $1,400).

* AAA has also been successful during 2004 in its pursuit of multi-year grants to support the AnthroSource and Understanding Race & Human Variation programs: $756k from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and $2.94 million from the National Science Foundation. *

* Discussed a draft Planned Giving Marketing Plan: "Building Support Through Planned Giving at the American Anthropological Association, October 2004", that has been developed by Richard Barrett, a Planned Giving Consultant.

* Began a discussion on "the Case" for Giving to AAA
2. In FY2005, RDC intends to tailor and implement the Planned Giving Marketing Plan, discuss strategies related to building "the Case" for giving to AAA, and continue to develop donor recognition activities.
3. Goals as stated above are correct.
4. No issues for LRPC.
5. No issues for AAA Executive Board.

N.B.
The year 2004 was not an active one for the RDC, because of the lack of a staff infrastructure to support our activities. During 2004 the Association's principal development-relevant activity was to make decisions as to how to create that infrastructure, to fill the gap left by the departure of Development Director Larry Rzepka in the fall of 2003. These decisions were quite appropriately made by the elected leadership and the staff, and did not involve the RDC - although Bill Davis did keep me generally apprised of progress.

The decision process turned out to take considerably longer than initially anticipated. Thus, an RDC meeting originally scheduled for May, and then postponed until early Fall, did not materialize, and our only meeting - real or virtual - for the entire year was held in Atlanta on Dec 17. All of this simply underlines the fact that the RDC -- perhaps uniquely among all the AAA committees -- cannot function well without some kind of day-to-day staff support. Although the leadership and staff dealt with this matter in a professional and wise manner, I was personally a little disappointed that the decision took so long, since I had been pushing for a "planned giving" emphasis (to function symbiotically with our "annual giving" emphasis) since my first RDC meeting -- in Reno in January 2002 -- and had before that included the AAA in my personal estate planning.

However, I think we are now in good shape. Now that the RDC's role has been usefully clarified, and now that the new infrastructure is well on its way to reality, I anticipate that 2005 will be an active and productive year for the RDC, under the very capable leadership of Sydel Silverman.

If incoming members of the RDC, or of the Executive Board, should be interested in my further thoughts on the role and promise of the RDC, these are available in two documents I have submitted to the Executive Board: (1) the five-year RDC report to the Executive Board dated Feb. 21, 2004; and, (2) dated about the same time, the memo, "Key Ideas Developed During Visioning Session Conducted on Nov 22, 2003, at the Chicago Annual Meeting of the AAA." I believe that website-based systematic visioning, conducted patiently through time, could prove highly useful both in promoting democracy within the AAA, and in fund-raising. I would be happy to work with others to promote this.

Finally: my appreciation to all my colleagues on the Committee, and to Bill Davis and Sandy Berlin, both highly dedicated servants of the Association, and a pleasure to work with. -- RBT