Background
In December 2003, ARNNL received an out-of-court settlement as a result of a civil suit against their former auditors arising from the theft of funds by ARNNL’s former bookkeeper. The total amount of the settlement was $310,000. In 2004 an ad hoc committee of ARNNL Council was struck and instructed to present options for what to do with the funding.
The committee presented Council with a number of options for discussion and ultimately the following motion was approved at a meeting held on February 5 and 6, 2005:
That the $310,000 from the civil settlement be invested by ARNNL. A minimum of $5,000 to be awarded annually to ARNNL Trust to support scholarships, post-graduate courses, continuing education, conferences, research, bursaries and CNA Certification. In the years when the interest earned exceeds $5,000, the Trust will receive 75% of the interest in excess of $5,000 with the remaining 25% re-invested.
The following year a motion was approved at the ARNNL Annual Meeting to collect a $10 Trust membership fee from each practicing member during licensure renewal. This secured an annual income of approximately $60,000 and ensured the financial stability of the Trust.
In January 2009 the Trust Board passed a motion to annually reimburse ARNNL for the Trust's operational costs incurred by ARNNL (e.g., administrative staff support, website hosting and maintenance, and advertising in ARNNL ACCESS magazine).
Current Decision
At the November 2013 Trust Board meeting, ARNNL advised the Board of their intention to ask Council to revisit the decision to restrict the fund and allocate the majority of the interest to the Trust. They proposed that the funds from the out of court settlement remain in a restricted fund and that the interest revenue be allocated to the ARNNL’s building contingency fund. Discussions between ARNNL and the Trust continued over the next two years. In June 2015, information regarding the plans to make changes to ARNNL's internally restricted funds was shared with the membership at the Trust Annual Meeting.
ARNNL Council passed a motion at the October 2015 meeting to move the $310,000 (plus interest earned) from the internally restricted “Scholarship/Bursaries Endowment Fund” to the internally restricted “Building Contingency”. A key principle noted by Council was to guarantee not to jeopardize the financial stability of the Trust.
The Trust and ARNNL have agreed to changes to the exchange of funds and services to offset the potential loss of funds from the ARNNL Scholarship Fund. For example, ARNNL will no longer accept payment of the annual reimbursement from the Trust. The agreed changes will be reviewed annually to ensure they remain viable and do not adversely impact operations of the Trust.
For more information about the ARNNL Scholarship Fund Decision, contact the Trust Coordinator at coordinator@nlrntrust.ca.