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Board meeting [2016-06-19]

The Reneal IEO Board of Directors met yesterday.  Our Board meets three or four times a year to discuss recent programmatic accomplishments, review the current financial status, and chart our future course.  We had a lot to talk about, between the imminent Cebu projects starting in September and the opportunities on the horizon in 2017.  We were also excited to hear that the scholarship committee at UCCP (United Church of Christ in the Philippines) in Compostela met this week to discuss candidates for the four additional scholarships being offered this school year.  Reneal IEO funds the scholarships, but our partners at UCCP administer the program with great care and thought.

Reneal’s main challenge continues to be fund-raising.  The computer systems we install are low-cost and we rely on donated computer equipment to the extent possible but it still costs roughly $1000 per school for specialized hardware (the server, network switch, etc.), not including shipping expenses.  The scholarship costs run about $150 per student, and we’ll have seven 9th graders and seven 10th graders this year in the program.  These programs take cash donations or grants, so we continue to look for ways to broaden our funding base.  With 30 schools served now in the Philippines and Tanzania, we have a good track record of success!  And donations go directly to programs.  Right now, non-programmatic expenses (management and general, and fund-raising) total less than 1.6% of cash revenue.  We are happy to share our story, and how we put donations to work, with interested potential donors.

Back on the technical front, Neal has fixed a couple of major problems affecting the upgrade to 16.04.  He should be able to get most of the applications to run locally on the clients now, which should improve performance.  Jade will be traveling to Daanbantayan next weekend again to help install some of the computer equipment that has arrived.  Yes, boxes are starting to flow in to the schools!  There is still a lot on the way, but we are happy to know that things seem to be arriving on the expected schedule.