Policies and Procedures

Policy on Promotions for Auction of a Donated Alpaca and the Super Stud Raffle

ARF will offer to pay any reasonable up-front fees and costs for promotion of an alpaca that is to be sold at auction for the benefit of ARF. In the event that ARF is to receive only a portion of the proceeds from the sale, ARF will offer to pay that portion of any reasonable up-front fees and costs. This offer is based on the availability of funds in the administrative account. When the alpaca is sold, the ARF administrative fund will be reimbursed in full from the proceeds of the sale. The ARF board agrees to pay the costs of promotion of the Super Stud Raffle at the Annual AOBA conference out of the administrative fund. The administrative fund will not be reimbursed with proceeds from the raffle.

Procedure for Review of Research Proposals

At the first meeting after receiving the grant applications, two board members will be selected to review each proposal in depth. At that time it will be determined whether we need the assistance of an expert outside reviewer. An outside reviewer will be used if it is determined that the necessary expertise for review of the grant is not present on the ARF board or that it is not possible for the ARF board to perform an impartial review. At this time the board will review the proposal to be sure that it conforms to our policies and procedures, that the investigator is qualified to perform the work and that the appropriate signatures have been obtained.

A schedule will be prepared by the ARF board president for review of the proposals at subsequent meetings of the board. The primary reviewers will prepare written comments prior to the meeting at which the proposal will be discussed. The comments will be in a form which could be incorporated into a summary statement to be sent to the applicants. The reviewers will read their comments to the rest of the board. The board will then discuss the proposal.

Each member of the board will then assign a priority score for Scientific Merit and a separate one for applicability. The scores should be on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most meritorious. If a proposal scores 7 or over on scientific merit it then becomes eligible for funding based on the priority score for applicability and the availability of funds.

A Grants Administrator will be appointed by the president of the ARF board. The Grants Administrator will prepare a summary statement for each proposal based on the anonymous written comments of the reviewers and the discussion of the board. He or she will also record the priority scores on the summary statement.

The summary statement will be retained for our records and only sent to an applicant if requested.

Development Committee

The Development Committee was formed by the Alpaca Research Foundation (ARF) board of directors in March of 2001. The purpose of the development committee is to initiate and coordinate fundraising efforts to support funding of alpaca related scientific studies, which are approved by ARF.

The Development Committee is composed of a chairman and between four and nine other working members. The number of working members can be altered by a majority vote of the ARF board. Development Committee members are appointed by a majority vote of the ARF board and serve for one year terms that are renewable by a majority vote of the ARF board. In addition at least one ARF board member serves as liaison between the Development Committee and the ARF board. The liaison(s) are appointed by the President of the ARF board.

The Development Committee performs its work with guidance from the ARF board. Policies and procedures to be followed by the Development committee are adopted by a majority vote of the ARF board. The Development Committee works independently to formulate recommendations for discussion and vote by the ARF board. When the Development Committee reaches a consensus on a recommendation, the chairman of the Development Committee makes a formal recommendation to the ARF board president directly or indirectly through the liaison(s). The ARF board president then forwards the recommendation to the ARF board for discussion and vote. All expenditures or commitment of funds must receive prior approval by a majority vote of the ARF board.

In addition, the liaison(s) report regularly at ARF board meetings concerning the ongoing work of the Development Committee. The Development committee liaison reports become a part of the ARF board minutes. These reports are for information only and do not require any action on the part of the ARF board, unless specifically requested by the Chairman of the Development Committee.

ARF board liaisons may, on occasion, serve as working members of the development committee. In the latter event this would be with the approval of and under the direction of the Chairman of the Development Committee. All outgoing written communications from the Development Committee such as One Voice updates, articles for Alpacas Magazine and promotional material should be forwarded to the ARF board president directly or indirectly through the liaison(s) prior to being sent out. The ARF board president will distribute the material to the ARF board members for their review and then report back to the Development Committee chairman within 48 hrs with any recommendations for revision.