2010 was another good year for our foundation in terms of philanthropic activities and refining our administrative procedures, as well as continuing our outreach to IEEE members in Canada. The Board approved the establishment & administration of the Vancouver Section Scholarship Fund. The Board also approved the establishment & administration of the Canadian Life Member Donor "Thank You" program.

The Board awarded a total of $56,145 as 5 IEEE McNaughton Learning Resource Centre Grants (4 upgrades and a new centre at UBC Okanagan), 3 IEEE Canadian Foundation Scholarships, 16 IEEE Canadian Foundation Special Grants including 4 Humanitarian Grants), 1 IEEE Canada Vehicular Technology Travel Grant, 1 IEEE Canada Power Quality Scholarship, 1 IEEE Canada Women in Engineering Prize, Funding for 3 IEEE Canada Medals (W.S. Read Outstanding Service Award, TELUS Telecommunications Award and the Outstanding Engineering Educator Award ) and 2 IEEE Canadian Foundation Québec Science Fair Prizes. In terms of the previous year's income, we received $47,000 in investment income and $17,500 in donations for a total of $64,500

In 2010 we received $19,927 in unrestricted donations - up about $3,800 from the previous year which is very gratifying - 71% came from the dues renewal process, 19% from cheques mailed to the treasurer and 10% from our Canada Helps online donation site. In addition, we received $20,000 from the IEEE Foundation to endow the IEEE Canada R.H. Tanner Industry Leadership Medal. We also received about $22,000 from the Vancouver Section to establish a Section Scholarship Fund These details are recorded in our 2010 Honour Roll of Donors (our third which should be published later this year) along with the first publication of our Canadian IEEE Heritage Circle members, our first two gifts in memory, and one planned giving.

The Fall 2010 issue of the IEEE Canadian Review carried our second Honour Roll of Donors which provided information for current and potential donors about our foundation. This was scaled down to two pages at the request of the ICR editors and did not include any success stories. However there was a credit to foundation funding in the set of articles on technology for humanity. Items relating to the foundation appeared in the Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul issues of the IEEE Canada e-news. In December, one e-notice was sent to all life members in Canada and another one to all other members in Canada. Our web site received a significant upgrade in 2010 with a major expansion of the donations area from one page to eleven pages.

The IEEE Foundation President is a non-voting ex-officio director of both IEEE Canada and the IEEE Foundation. Additionally he attends the annual IEEE Canada Awards Banquet. David Whyte, VP Grants, attended the March 2011 IEEE Foundation Board meeting in place of the ICF president to strengthen ties between the two boards.

Last April the Board implemented two significant changes. The Donations Committee was renamed the Development Committee with the added responsibility of publicity. This was accompanied by the creation of a Section Liaison Committee to build bridges with our Canadian IEEE Sections. The success of these two committees will require strong coordination internally and externally and a focused effort. The intent is that with everyone helping we will be able to do more with limited volunteer time. With the increase in the number of funds and the creation of the LM thank-you program, there is increased "office function" activity which may need to be dealt with in future.

The inclusion of the former Montreal Conferences Inc. volunteers, strengthened with volunteers from Quebec and Trois Rivieres Sections, initially enabled us to create a bilingual grants committee along with a bilingual website & web forms. This was extended recently in two ways. Xavier Maldague (not a foundation member) is now translating donation receipts/inserts and other solicitation materials to expand our bilingual development activity and Paul Fortier is translating messages sent to Francophone university branches using a new mailing list created/maintained by Denard Lynch. At our request, IEEE Canada has asked IEEE staff to look into adding a language preference to the membership database, with the intent that e-notices can be sent to members in their language of choice.

Congratulations to the following IEEE Canadian Foundation members

• Bob Alden was awarded the EIC John B. Sterling Medal for leadership and distinguished service at the EIC Awards Gala in Ottawa on Feb 27, 2010
• Ray Findlay was awarded the IEEE Haraden Pratt Award for outstanding service at the IEEE Honours Ceremony in Montreal on June 26, 2010
• Kash Husain is being awarded the 2011 IEEE Canada W.S. Read Outstanding Service Award at the IEEE Canada Awards Banquet in Niagara Falls on May 9, 2011
• Maike Luiken is being awarded the 2011 IEEE Canada Central Canada Merit Award at the IEEE Canada Awards Banquet in Niagara Falls on May 9, 2011

Closing Comments

I thank all my fellow members of the IEEE Canadian Foundation, the volunteer leadership of both IEEE Canada and the IEEE Foundation, and associated staffs, for your inspiration, advice and support.

Robert T.H. (Bob) Alden, Ph.D., P.Eng., F EIC, LF IEEE
President