From:  "Sridhar Desikan" <[20]sridhar_desikan@h...>
   Date:  Tue Jul 24, 2001  4:03 pm
   Subject:  Minutes of the Asha-Princeton meeting held on July 21, 2001

   
   Dear Friends,
   Please find attached the minutes of the meeting held on
   July 21, 2001.
   Minutes of the Asha-Princeton meeting on July 21, 2001
   (Minutes taken by Ranjani)
   The primary objective for the meeting was to discuss the change
   of co-ordinator and treasurer for Asha-Princeton. Sumathi Iyengar
   has  volunteered  to  take up the role of co-ordinator and Priya Rajan
   has
   volunteered to take up the role of treasurer.
   Volunteers present were Anirban, Pradeep, Vinay, Sumathi, Sridhar,
   Sriranjani, Vijay, Kumar, Diana, Vikas, Archana, Priya and Timothy.
   Sumathi expressed her opinion that she needed some a team to
   work with her on the various responsibilities of the co-ordinator.
   These action items of responsibility for the co-ordinator are
   listed in AshaPrinceton message 2141 (scrolled below).
   Some point persons have been identified for each of the
   action items.
   Co-ordinator responsibilities
   1. Direction
   Sumathi would take overall responsibility for this along with
   the sub-groups responsible for various action items. At
   this point there was also some discussion about how we want
   to fund projects.
   Some of the issues that came up for discussion were as follows.
   (a) Do we want to find more projects to fund? Do we let funds
   chase projects or projects chase funds?
   (b) How to stop bad projects/ monitor sustainability?
   (c) What is the composition of our projects /project expenses?
   (d) Taking up some activity that brings Asha together (example,
   printing/ distributing Asha-calendars)
   (e) Idea of project group meetings.
   (f) Having an event fundraiser vs organizing smaller
   fundraising exercises
   There  was  also  some  discussion  on the India Day function at Penns
   Landing on
   August  18,  Saturday.  It  was decided that we could ask Madhav if he
   could
   help out with this.
   2. Meetings/ agenda
   Sumathi would take responsibility for this. She would discuss
   with   project  co-ordinators  and  also  maintain  an  Asha-Princeton
   calendar with
   project timelines.
   3. Various chapter activities
   We discussed the need to find people working at the grassroots
   level  in  India  and  have  them  discuss  their experiences with the
   chapter
   whenever they are visiting this country. Shankar is
   currently  co-ordinating  this  activity  and  we  felt  that he could
   continue.
   4. Keep track of various Asha-wide activity.
   The main task on this was to track the email lists and a few
   people volunteered to check out on the various email groups.
   Asha-wide : Pradeep/ Sumathi
   Projects : Sridhar
   Frfg : Vikas
   Research/ discussion : Pradeep
   Publicity : Priya/ Tim
   WAH publicity : Sumathi
   5. Motivate new volunteers.
   Sumathi volunteered to take up responsibility for this. There
   was  also  some  discussion  on how to keep new volunteers interested.
   Some of
   the  suggestions  were  including them in specific project activities,
   web page
   updating, and newsletter. Kumar, a new
   volunteer with Asha Princeton (previously with Asha-Indianapolis)
   volunteered to take up responsibility for the newsletter.
   6. Work closely with the treasurer
   Sumathi would be responsible for this activity.
   7. Maintain database of volunteers/ contacts
   Anirban volunteered to take responsibility for this.
   8. Arrange corporate presentation when required
   Sumathi would be responsible for this activity. Some of the
   activities discussed were getting in touch with Nuware
   Foundation and to find out about companies that United Way
   campaigns in companies in the Princeton area.
   9. Arrange for outreach tables at local events
   Madhav would be the point person for this activity.
   10. Have fun events within the group
   Madhav and Vikas would be the point persons for this.
   11. Arrange for invited talks
   Shankar would continue to be the point person for this.
   12. Newsletter/ merchandise
   Kumar volunteered to initiate newsletter activities and Anirban
   agreed to check on Asha merchandise.
   13. Keep track of activities in other organizations like AID.
   Vijay agreed to update us on activities by AID.
   14. Student liaison activities
   Anirban volunteered to make presentations at the freshman
   meeting.
   Treasurer responsbilities
   Priya agreed to work with Vikas, Kumar and Diana on treasurer
   responsibilities. She would also discuss with Giri to find
   out about current status on items like funds position and
   donor database.