Alumni working with Cadets to fund Cadet sponsored activities

Following a great deal of work between Cadets and alumni to directly support individual and Cadet group activities and needs, the Cadet Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit, will initiate its Cadet and Alumni Advisory Committee starting in August 2023. The Cadet Foundation is completely independent of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Administration and the VMI Alumni Agencies. As an all-volunteer organization, with no paid employees currently, it focuses on bringing Cadets and alumni together. This provides donors the confidence their donation goes directly to support Cadets with low (and currently no) overhead. The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to review Cadet nominated projects and requests for funding by The Cadet Foundation. Another, equally important, role for The Advisory Committee is to provide advice, mentorship and assistance to Cadets in developing, executing, and managing their projects where requested or needed. The Cadet Foundation is controlled by a board made up of current cadets and VMI Alumni. It will provide money and other activities to directly benefit cadets, and will be advised by cadets and alumni. The alumni members of the Advisory Committee will initially consist of at least ten (10) members who are alumni, one of which will be the Advisory Committee Co-Secretary. Initial members will be solicited from interested alumni until such time as The Cadet Foundation can engage with the larger alumni base to receive volunteers, nominations and have members of the committee elected by alumni where all have a chance to fairly compete for positions. Nominations will be accepted from all alumni and all nominees will be presented to all interested alumni donors for each vacant seat filled by majority vote. Contributing alumni may vote remotely for Advisory Committee members. The Cadet members of the Advisory Committee will initially consist of the following current Cadet allocations from the Corps: First Class: 3ea (one of which will be the Advisory Committee Co-Secretary) Second Class: 3ea Third Class: 2ea Fourth Class: 2ea (after Breakout) Until such time as the Corps finalizes an approved process to solicit nominations and select members for the Advisory Committee, Cadet members will come from initial volunteers selected by their peers. Subsequently, Cadet Advisory Committee members are elected from each class. Cadet representatives are selected from the Corps without any administration or other outside influence and will represent the Corps. At least 50% of the Cadet representatives must be Cadets with the rank of Private. Cadets will be nominated by their Brother Rats, by name alone. Meaning, cadets will not be provided with a list of their Brother Rats to select or choose from. Cadets will inform – by word of mouth, email, or otherwise the name of their BR which they wish to nominate. A cadet may nominate one other of their own class. Cadet Advisory Committee members will be elected by each Class for one year terms. They may be re-elected each year until graduation by the class at its discretion. The Foundation will fund and support projects that Cadets initiate through the Foundation Request protocol. Applications will be accepted from alumni and Cadets to fund cadets and cadet activities. Applications can be submitted at any time and will be considered either at a scheduled meeting of the Advisory Board or sooner if needed. Cadets can submit requests at any time. The objective monitoring of all projects using performance measures in an outcomes-based approach is essential to both The Cadet Foundation's operations and transparency with donors. Each project submitted to the Advisory Board will contain a proposed "evaluation of success" criteria that the Advisory Board will assist in refining then ultimately recommend for approval or disapproval. The major deliverable from each Advisory Board meeting will be the status of each current project, to include financial disclosures, and recommendations on nominated projects. These will be made available to all donors and published, as appropriate, to The Cadet Foundation's website. All funds will be granted directly to Cadet organization or individual Cadets, not the administration or third parties. No funds will be used to support NCAA sports or activities, or provided to NCAA athletes unless certification is obtained the activity does not violate NCAA rules. No funds will be used to pay salaries or that would otherwise categorize Cadets as employees of the Cadet Foundation or other entity using the funds allocated. Funds will not be used in any projects or programs that violate local, state or federal law. If the Institute asserts that the funds or programs are in violation of the school policy, the Advisory Board will review and recommend action to accept or deny the school's protest. With the recent publication of Memorandum #34 on outside funding, Cadets will have access available from the Alumni Free Speech Alliance, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and other legal support to ensure they gain the support they need without interference. All individual Cadets, Cadet Clubs and other Cadet-run organizations are encouraged to contact the advisory committee for more information and to submit requests. Cadets can download the project funding request forms from the website at www.thecadetfoundation.org. For further information contact info@thecadetfoundation.org. Cadet main point of contact in barracks is Cadet Dylan Palmer '24, at Dylanpalmer@cadetnewspaper.org Those members of the VMI Family desiring to donate to The Cadet Foundation can do so at: https://givebutter.com/Gw0jQW or contact the foundation at info@thecadetfoundation.org for other options to support cadet programs. CADETS ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT THEIR NOMINATIONS SO THEY CAN BE ACTED UPON.