Alumni in Japan and Illinois Make the Fourth Annual Campaign Successful

The annual fundraising campaign in FY 2012/13 (July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013) concluded successfully, although it did not match the huge success of last year. It showed a 5% decline largely due to the lower interest rates, affecting the dividends from Shintech Inc’s Trust Fund. Donations from individuals kept the same high level as last year. We are most grateful to the generous supporters for this year’s success, despite the difficult economic climate during this campaign period.
barchart
By looking at the above chart, we can make the following observations. First, the donations from individuals, shown in green bars, sharply increased from the first two years to the last two years, i.e., $43,200 (42 individuals) and $40,192 (45 individuals) in FY 2009/10 and FY 2010/11, respectively to $62,005 (77 individuals) and $ 61,320 (73 individuals) in FY 2011/12 and FY 2012/13, respectively.
Secondly, Shintech Inc’s Trust Fund, which earned dividends as much as 96,432 in FY 2009/10, have been suffering from the lower earnings from the US Treasury notes ever since. The dividends in FY 2012/13 were $70,076, a 9 % decline from $77,155 of FY 2011/12. The recent low interest rates are affecting the campaign significantly in a negative way, and we will have to find alternative strategies to make both ends meet.
The pie chart shows a breakdown of the individuals’ donations by group or region. Out of the $61,320 donations from individuals, $30,500 came from 13 members of FUTI Board of Directors and Advisory Committee members; A quarter of the individual donations, $15,520, came from 17 generous alumni in Japan; $7,400 from 8 alumni in Chicago area including donation by the Chicago Akamon-kai; $5,300 from 22 members of the New York Ichokai (excluding those who serve on FUTI’s Board or Advisory Committee); $2,300 from 4 alumni in California.
piechart
“We are grateful to Shintech Inc. and many generous donors here in the U.S. and Japan. In order to keep our public charity status, however, we should like to broaden the support base.  We sincerely hope that more alumni and friends will join us to help our younger generation gain global experiences by studying or doing internship abroad ” remarked President Hisashi Kobayashi.
The list of donors is posted in “Campaign Result of FY2012-2013: Final Report” on the FUTI website.


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