Report Period
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Introduction
The Finance Committee is charged with developing the annual budget for the ACS Division of Chemical Education (“the Division (GovPro)”) and overseeing this budget and other financial concerns of the Division. This committee also sends recommendations to the Division Executive Committee ("ExCom") on financial matters such as the budget, the investment policy, audit practices, ongoing and new expenses, and ongoing and new income-generating activities.
Information Since Last Report
The committee does not meet at the Fall ACS meeting. Instead, we held virtual meetings on September 25, 2025, and February 6, 2026.
- The 2026 budget was forwarded to ExCom for approval at the Fall 2025 meeting.
- As of January 2026, Jon Gittins stepped in as chair after working with Cathy Middlecamp as co-chair in 2025.
- The Finance Committee welcomed three new members: Steve Wietstock (DivCHED Chair-Elect), Sally Hunnicutt (new Treasurer of the Board of Publications), and Carly Schnoebelen (Biennial Conference Committee Co-Chair). On January 21, 2026, the chair and treasurer held an onboarding meeting for these three members.
- The last policy revisions for the Division Investment Policy were adopted in June 2019, so the committee felt some updates would be appropriate. The revised Investment Policy will be presented to ExCom in March 2026.
- After discussion about the Regional High School Teachers Award (RHSTA), the Finance Committee will be forward a recommendation to ExCom to consider increasing the $1000 award to $1500, while also assessing ways that DivCHED might be able to encourage regional meetings to consider giving this award. (Not many awards are given each year.)
- A subcommittee has worked on guidelines for committee budget requests to ensure that there is consistency and equity when designating and approving funds for the various committees’ requests within DivCHED.
Future Plans
- We will consider whether to hold the onboarding earlier than we are currently holding it. DivCHED will have a new Treasurer in 2027, and we will need to deal with the complexities of all the various accounts and funding sources.
- We will be updating the Finance Committee Operations Manual. While there will mostly be minor updates, we will be adding suggestions for the frequency of updates/revisions for certain policies (yearly, every other year, etc).
Did your committee request funding from DivCHED in the past budget year?
No