Lunsford Endowment

The Andrea Lunsford Diversity Fund

NAME: The name of this endowment shall be the "Andrea Lunsford Diversity Fund.”

PURPOSE: The purpose of this endowment shall be to provide monies to support participation at the RSA conference by graduate students of color. The endowment thus honors Andrea Lunsford’s longtime commitments to promoting diversity within RSA and the education and professional development of graduate students in rhetoric.

ELIGIBILITY: To be eligible, the recipient must be a currently enrolled graduate student of color, a member of RSA, and have an accepted presentation at the next scheduled biennial RSA Biennial Conference. Selection of recipients shall be by review of submitted applications.

AMOUNT and SOURCE OF FUNDS: The initial principal of this fund is to be established by a gift made to the Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) in the amount of $30,000. The gift is to be divided into an investment account of $25,000 and a savings account of $5,000. The fund shall become active immediately upon establishment of these accounts. Additional contributions may be made by interested persons or organizations. Contributions will be
deposited in the Lunsford Fund savings account and, as they accrue, periodically transferred to the Lunsford Fund investment account by the Executive Director.

EXPENDITURES: Expenditures shall conform to RSA rules and regulations. Disbursement shall be on a matching funds basis from revenue generated by the biennial conference. The President-elect of RSA in that officer’s role as primary planner for the biennial conference shall be responsible for establishing the process for determining recipients and, in consultation with
the Executive Director, the manner of generating matching funds and the amount of each award for that conference. Disbursement of the award to its recipients shall be the responsibility of the Executive Director. Any available monies not awarded at a particular biennial conference shall either be added to the principal or retained for award together with the monies available for
expenditure at the following biennial conference, as determined by the Executive Director of the RSA.

ENDOWMENT MANAGEMENT: This endowment shall be subject to general guidelines and policies as adopted by the Board of the RSA for the management of endowed funds, including the application of fees associated with fundraising and investment administration. Stability of endowment support and preservation of purchasing power against inflationary pressures shall be achieved by limiting spending to an annually determined spending rate approved by the RSA Board. Actual investment returns, either greater than or less than the actual spending allocation, are retained in the endowment pool and reflected in the market value of each individual RSA
endowment.

AMENDMENT: The Board of the RSA, in consultation with the initiating donor, when possible, shall have the authority to make changes in these guidelines which are necessary to ensure the fulfillment of the fund’s objectives.