Here are some of the frequently asked questions about USTCAF sub funds.
General Questions
What is a Sub Fund?
A USTCAF sub fund is a "virtual account" set up to keep track of the donations and awards for a special purpose. Once set up, the AF tracks and reports the detailed donation income and award expense and make it openly available to all members.
Why did the AF have Sub Funds?
Historically the thinking was that we'd like to see fund raising and award activities clustered around certain alumni communities, especially individual classes. Subsequently we find the mechanism handy to handle one-to-one sponsorships (Goodwill Awards). Later on we also find it useful to attract donations for special purposes.
Who Can Set Up a Sub Fund?
Any member of the USTCAF can set up a sub fund, as long as there is a good reason and purpose to it. The AF generally does not deny such request, but reserves such right.
Who Manages a Sub Fund?
A sub fund is managed by its "sub fund manager", who generally is the person who set up the sub fund in the first place.
How is a Sub Fund Managed?
The AF manages the monetary balance of the fund, as it is not practical to open individual bank account for each sub fund. But the sub fund manager manages the the activities of the sub fund, including raising money and designating awards.
What is a Goodwill Sub Fund?
Please see the Goodwill FAQ.
Sub Fund Manage Questions
What Sub Fund Information is Reported? and How Often?
The AF reports all sub fund income and expense information in real time.
How Do I Access Such Information?
First you create a "USTCAF Member Account" for yourself, at our "AF Member Account Manager": http://acct.ustcaf.org/. Then you head over to our AF accounting system: http://www.ustcaf.org/gnucash, and sign in with your email address and the password you just set up.
Where Exactly Do I Find My Sub Fund?
Inside the accounting system, click "Sun Funds" at the top, and then "All", and find your sub fund, and click the link. Then you get the "Sub Fund Detail" display.
How Do I Read the "Sub Fund Detail" display?
The information covers all the activities for a given sub fund for the current year, and is broken up into several sections. The first section has the description of the sub fund, and the balances of the fund from last year and the real-time balance. Then there is the income section covering all the donations, and the expense section covering all the awards.
The US Dollars are Depreciating Against the RMB, can I request my sub fund balance be transferred?
The AF manages its foreign exchange risk as a whole, and has significant amount of money in Chinese currency already (dig into the accounting system and you'll find how much). Our "home currency" for accounting is the US Dollar, but if our Chinese currency holdings appreciates, we may decide to credit some of that to our sub funds.