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A Mutual Assurance Fund

When Jonathan, our son, went through Miami more than once, he asked:

This is MY Yami; where is

In consultation with David S. Wise

1. What is the Mutual Assurance Fund?

The Fund is a pool of common wealth; it is wealth that belongs to all members of YourYami.

2. How is the Mutual Assurance Fund constituted?

The Fund is constituted through voluntary contributions by any person or institution whether or not a member of YourYami.

3. How can the Mutual Assurance Fund be managed?

The Fund will be managed as a separate line item within YourYami budget; no funds raised by YourYami for its own mission will be used for the purposes of the Fund.

4. But there are always expenses…

True. And it is also true that by depositing in a bank the proceeds of the Fund, the Fund will earn some interest which-for ease of administration-will be added to the revenues of YourYami. In any case, if with the passage of time the administration of the Fund should become too onerous, decisions will have to be made: the Fund can cut down on its activities, or cover its expenses through its own funds, or raise ad hoc resources.

5. Who can access the Mutual Assurance Fund?

Only members of YourYami can benefit from the Fund.

6. What are the procedures for accessing the Mutual Assurance Fund?

Any member of YourYami who may need assistance from the Fund will have to secure approval from two (2) members of YourYami, hereinafter called the Approval Committee.

7. Who appoints the Approval Committee?

The person who requests the assistance has the responsibility to create the ad hoc, case-by-case, Approval Committee.

8. What are the conditions for approval of the request?

There are no conditions, except those dictated by the honor system: requests are expected not to be too frivolous; not too frequent; and with a reasonable expectation of a refund.

9. Are there external limits to the amounts approved?

Yes. The Approval Committee cannot authorize expenditures in excess of the amount available at any moment in the Mutual Assurance Fund. And, in case of conflicting requests, the “first-come, first-served” rule ought to be of assistance.

10. Are there internal limits to the amounts approved?

Yes. There are many internal limits to the amounts approved. The amounts will have to be established at the discretion of the Approval Committee. One expects the exercise of prudence in respect to many factors: since the Fund is a pool of common wealth, one expects that a number of concerns be manifest in each decision of the Approval Committee such as concern for the present and future needs of other members of YourYami; concern for the replenishment of the Fund; concern for the “good name” of the Fund.

11. Are there limits as to the number of times a person can ask for contributions from the Mutual Assurance Fund?

This is another area where the discretion of the Approval Committee has to prevail. It is possible to envisage cases in which one person will be denied a second time around, while another person will receive approval innumerable times-depending on specific circumstances. A person who uses the common pool of resources for frivolous reasons, and is not forthcoming in restoring the integrity of the Fund, will not likely be approved a second or third time. Instead, a person raising young children, for instance, might be approved to receive reasonable funds for a reasonable number of years.

12. What are the operating procedures of the Mutual Assurance Fund?

Once the treasurer of YourYami receives a voucher (any piece of paper will do) signed by the Approval Committee, a check is issued to the person who requests the funds. The name of the recipient is kept confidential; but the names of the members serving on the Approval Committee(s) will receive an honorable mention at the subsequent Board Meeting.

12b. Any other procedure?

Perhaps, once the organization grows-and the demands on the Mutual Assurance Fund grow-it might become necessary to appoint a Review Committee to assist the treasurer in sharing final responsibility for the wellbeing of the Fund. A Review Committee of 3 might be appointed by the board, for instance, to review single applications that might consume more than fifty percent of the resources available at any time in the Fund.

13. What are the operating procedures for the collection of funds?

As an integral part of the budget report, the treasurer of YourYami will deliver a written report to the Board outlining expenses as well as totals raised each month divided into two categories: anonymous donations and attributed contributions by name of donors.

14. Lists, lists… and yearly summaries

Yes. The treasurer of YourYami -- or any other member appointed by the Board -- will in effect keep three lists (and yearly summaries) on an accrual basis: a list of expenses; a list of contributors, divided as to number of anonymous contributors and named contributors; and a list of participants in the various ad hoc Approval (and Review) Committees.

15. How will the Mutual Assurance Fund be reconstituted?

There will be three sources of funds: the generosity of the members of YourYami: the honesty of the borrowers/grantees; and possible outside grants.

16. What does the generosity of the members ultimately require?

Oh, the usual virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. Wisdom, science, and understanding will certainly help. The indispensable ones are hope, faith, and love. Ultimately, these are the internal resources that each member of YourYami will have to call upon.

17. And what else?

A spirit of self-sacrifice, is that the expected answer? Well, no; not a spirit of sacrifice, but a spirit of self-fulfillment.

18. What is the ultimate purpose of the Fund?

The ultimate purpose of the Mutual Assurance Fund is to offer a moral choice to the members of YourYami. Faced with the temptation to hoard wealth, one will have the opportunity to face this fundamental choice: “Will I catch more happiness from hoarding this wealth or from adding it to the Fund?” Better still. Faced with the temptation to incur an expense for a dispensable item, one will have the opportunity to ask: “Will I catch more happiness from pursuing this expense or from adding to the Fund?”

19. Who are the ultimate administrators of the Mutual Assurance Fund?

The administrators of the Mutual Assurance Fund are all the members of YourYami who, acting just like the leprechauns of old, will never leave the pot full and never leave it empty.

The Parable of the Talents: Do not hoard.

the birds of the air;

your heavenly Father

Corn left at the edge of the corn field for people in need to collect freely and other forms of charity (i.e., love)

as recounted, for instance, in Tzedakah, A Way of Life

ed. Azriel Eisenberg, New York, N.Y.: Behrman House, 1963.

The Sabbath for the Lord on the seventh day, for seven weeks every year, the seventh year, and the forty-ninth year-rest and forgiveness for people, land, and debts (Lev. 25-1-4; Is. 65; Lk. 4)

as presented by, e.g., Maria Harris, Proclaim Jubilee!

Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996

Maimonides' Eight degrees of charity

St. Vincent's Society

At the suggestion of David S. Wise, the Harvard Class of 1955 established a fund in 1991, replenished through voluntary contributions, for the purpose of assisting “a class member facing financial, physical, or psychological hardship through the receipt of a morale-building 'unexpected' material or monetary gift” (David S. Wise, “Class Assistance Fund Report”, in the 45th Annual Report of Harvard Class of 1955, p. xv).

Thanks go especially to