we do it too

CONTINUITY -- This is our status report on all of the following points.

1-a mission statement that discloses what the organization is attempting to accomplish including the who, what, where, when, and why of its mission.

The beliefs webpage as well as the Goals & Mission webpage all speak to, and are part of, our purpose, mission, and goals.

2-a set of by-laws that explains the mission and how it is to be accomplished in great detail.

Article II of our By-laws (see Legalities and the item #2 "our By-laws" - article II) speaks to our purpose, mission, and goals.

3-a recording of the minutes of meetings (mostly for historical purposes but also an aid in training your successors) documenting the discussions that go into the decisions that end up in changes or additions to operating procedures or even reasons why a discussed thought was NOT adopted.

See the web-page minutes prior to the Founder's death and to the webpage subsequent changes (which will describe WHERE to find this after the Founder dies).

4a-written operating procedures, policies, rules, processes, etc. that describe just how every part of every process that culminates in the operation of the entire organization and its mission is to be accomplished by providing new personnel (or even long-term participants new to each job or position) written words describing how the particular job, assignment, task, etc., has been accomplished in the past. Training new people becomes easier and there should be no need to reinvent the wheel any time a new person starts an old assignment that is new to them. An organization chart (which itself will change periodically) is probably the first step in creating the abovementioned descriptions of the processes that operate your organization.

THIS ENTIRE website was written with the above ends in mind. With the exception of the organization chart (which obviously must be delayed until after the Founder's death), all of the above is both accomplished on the pages of this web-site while we also recognize that this task is never complete due to changes in method, changes in needs, and still other changes that do and will continue to occur and which will then cause this website to be amended, edited, and otherwise updated and changed as the years go on.

In addition, we have made provisions for any changes needed for this website after the Founder dies. All grantees are referred to the webpage subsequent changes where directions to the "supplemental website" showing such changes will be found.

4b-as the MPWCFoundation has been in continuous existence since 2000, we have finally come to the point where THIS web-site will have to provide 99% of the information in HOW a grantee is to create all annual input that they send to us. We have answered all of your previous unanswered questions as asked (and immediately ALSO placed the new or amended answers on the web-site as well) so it is now up to each grantee to maintain files of our answers, suggestions, emails, etc., so that each grantee now knows that we are no longer going to TEACH you how to do your annual input. From now on, you have to train and re-train all successors in the process of creating the annual input. You are on your own and we will not duplicate prior instructions from past annual Comments letters. In isolated cases, if asked well before each December 31st, we will answer specific and well-phrased and documented questions that have not been asked before, but we will not repeat them from then on.

Our part of the above is DONE as far as we know. Now it is the responsibility of any grantee to ask the questions that may require us to further amend this website.

4c- a well-created "To Do" list for use by (and contributions to it from) all members (temporary or permanent, volunteers or paid workers) of your organization that tells date by date how and when to do things that re-occur. This would include things that must be done on weekly, monthly, semi-annual, annual, etc. bases and would be things that must be done by your people for the MPWCF as well as any and all facets of your mission or management of your mission.

The MPWCF has such a "to do" list and it is a piece of software called Lotus Agenda that currently (as of 2/25/11) contains some 1200 separate "items" that meet the above needs. If a copy of Lotus Agenda is NOT on the Foundation's computer AFTER the Founder's death, the Trustees should ask the Founder's Executor for it and receive a copy and USE IT.

5-a summary listing describing all significant contracts or agreements plus individual extracts for each of the items on that listing. The extracts and/or the originals of the contracts or agreements with any other parties (be they contributors, vendors, organization office holders, volunteers, beneficiaries, whatever) should be maintained in a secure central location and a specific person should be designated to be in charge of keeping the historical integrity of such records. This contemplates the creation of "written notes to the file" for any important agreement with anyone which has not been committed to paper (contractual or otherwise).

The ONLY contracts or agreements that we have is the agreement between the Founder and the MPWCF that provides for the rental of the Founder's apartments and the profits to be paid to the MPWCF. Any and all other agreements made previously (and that are now completed) are not listed here.

6-each grantee organization should have a plan that includes a method that tracks the performance of their organization, their programs and/or its participants. This tracking should define clearly their main objectives as well as the obstacles. This plan should also enable anyone to evaluate the effectiveness of any plan and its methods. If a grantee organization won't commit to measure their own return on their own investments in themselves, how can others measure it or otherwise evaluate it? Among your plans should be the following points:

6a-insiders and outsiders need insight into your plans for what happens when your current grant increases to as much as us$20,000 to us$50,000 a year.

We have many pages on this web-site that address that concern; in addition we have analyses on spreadsheets on the Foundation's computer folders that bring into focus possible increases and decreases in the amounts we will (or won't) have available under various scenarios. We even have contemplated similarly various scenarios that might effect the Founder's estate and how we will be impacted and what we can or should do to reduce negative impacts upon our grantees.

6b-How will you handle the transition (your current grant quickly increasing each year in steps like - say - $10,000 > $20,000 > $50,000 or more a year?

This, too, is contemplated in the point #6a answer.

6c-Certainly you know the details better than I do but even I know that you will have problems that must be addressed. For examples (only, provide your own), you will:

6c1-have much more to give to each beneficiary of your mission - how will they and you handle that?

This is under the control of each individual grantee. Our review is concerned with how each individual grantee will address this possibility.

6c2-have more money so you can help even more beneficiaries - what are your thoughts on this?

6c3-need more volunteers on your staff to process all of this - how will you get them?

6c4-need more volunteers on your staff to mentor or otherwise guide each beneficiary - how will you get this type of volunteer?

6c5-have to think of expanding your programs which, in turn, will create new and different problems.

6c6-have to consider whether (and how if you do) you will desire "partial pay-back in kind" from graduates (lawyers, accountants, mentors for current beneficiaries, etc.)

6c7-have to consider the job prospects in and around Guanajuato for students considering certain curricula

6c8-have to consider how you are competing with other local organizations for the volunteer staff you need and what kinds of credentials are useful.

6c9-have to consider how you are going to handle (incoming, outgoing, investing, endowments, etc.) the vastly larger sums of money coming in from us.

6c10-have to think about how you are going to plan for (and deal with) occasional annual grants that may be higher or lower than a norm (we, too, have to plan for that).

6c11-have to consider how will your own endowment fund be structured and how will it be used

All of the above (from 6c2 to 6c11) requires that we respond identically to the response in point 6c1 above.

6c12-have to implement controls over the greater amounts of funds (internal audit, internal controls, more board oversight).

We have considered all of this. Some of our responses are on this website; others will have to be determined by future Trustees as circumstances warrant that that unknown time.

6c13-have to increase the amount and type of information that you place in your internal (and probably external, too) financial statements - You will need more and better narrative, fuller disclosure, and more comparisons and explanations of variations need to know the details of what every current person does so as to replace their abilities if or when anyone leaves unexpectedly in any way.

We respond identically to the response in point 6c1 above.

6c14-The above are just a few questions that occurred to us that should already have occurred to you and your organization as you are INSIDE and we are on the outside. And the questions are the easy part. You probably should have already thought about answers but now the details for each answer become more important. Each answer should be, if you consider each problem, an answer that creates even more new questions which should also then be considered

We respond identically to the response in point 6c1 above.

In addition, we have made provisions for any changes needed for this website after the Founder dies. All grantees are referred to the webpage subsequent changes where directions to the "supplemental website" showing such changes will be found.