The Tuna Fund

The Arthur “Tuna” Wullschleger Umpire Fund (also referred to as “Tuna Fund”) was established as an endowment fund of the United States Sailing Foundation in honor of US Sailing Umpire Emeritus Arthur Wullschleger through the generosity of those interested in the growth of the US Sailing umpire corps. The endowment’s purpose is to promote quality umpiring in support of match and team racing in the United States and around the world.  The following Rules of the Fund are established to govern the establishment, management and distribution of the Tuna Fund.

DEFINITIONS

• USSF – United States Sailing Foundation
• The Rules – Rules of the Arthur “Tuna” Wullschleger Umpire Fund
• UC –Umpires Committee of United States Sailing Association
• DSC – Distribution Subcommittee of the Umpires Committee of United States Sailing Association
• PA – Principal Amounts  – amounts donated to the Tuna Fund which are to be held in perpetuity
• PAE – Principle Amount Earnings  – earnings on the principal of the Tuna Fund
• The Grant – PAE available from the USSF to the UC for use as reimbursements

SECTION A – UNITED STATES SAILING FOUNDATION RULES

1. If at any time the USSF does not abide by The Rules and further, the agreement between the USSF and the UC, the UC shall have the right to take appropriate actions as allowed for by the laws governing an endowment fund.  Should that be done, all moneys PA and PAE shall remain the property of the Tuna Fund and must be fully reinvested in a new endowment approved by all members of the UC and  the President of US Sailing. All of the Tuna Fund rules shall continue to apply.
2. The Fund shall be accounted for in accordance with rules established under the Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act and applicable state and federal laws then currently in effect.
3. All donations shall be placed into the PA, except that a donor may specify an amount to be distributed to the UC in the year that it is donated.
4. After provision for historical value as required by the UMIFA rules of the State of Rhode Island, 50% of the remaining PAE shall be provided as an annual grant to the UC, except that when the balance of the Temporarily Restricted portion of The Fund reaches $100,000, 80% of the remaining PAE shall be provided as an annual grant.  If at any time the Temporarily Restricted portion of The Fund falls below $100,000, the percentage granted to the UC shall revert to 50% until the minimum $100,000 has been restored.
5. The grant shall be made available to the UC between January 1st and January 30th of each year.
6. The USSF shall provide an annual report which shall be distributed to each member of the UC detailing all financial information regarding the Tuna Fund, including but not limited to: the principal balance year beginning, the principal balance year end, interest earned in that given year, fund investments and moneys received, earned or gained.

The United States Sailing Foundation agrees that when a minimum of $100,000 dollars has been received, the Tuna Fund shall be incorporated into the endowment, held in perpetuity and will be invested with the United States Olympic Foundation. Earnings will be held in an account attached to the endowment and a percentage of these earnings will be distributed as an annual grant to the UC for distribution to certified umpires. The USSF also agrees to manage the endowment as outlined in Section A of this document.

David Rosecrans
President, United Sates Sailing Foundation

SECTION B – UMPIRE COMMITTEE RULES

1. The UC shall be responsible for the distribution of The Grant moneys received from The Tuna Fund and shall form a DSC composed of 3 members or 5 members serving on the UC in the year of distribution. The Chair of the DSC shall be appointed by the Chairperson of the UC.
2. 80% of the members of the DSC must agree to who the recipients will be and the amount each is to receive.  All decisions shall be final.
3. Only umpire travel costs are eligible for reimbursements. UC-approved seminar presenters and/or on-the-water evaluators are eligible for travel and lodging cost reimbursement when participating in an UC-approved US Sailing or World Sailing seminar and/or UC approved on-the-water evaluation.  Also see Rule 6(a) Section D.
4. Donors to the Tuna Fund may also stipulate a specific dollar amount of their donation to be set aside for immediate use as reimbursements.  These specified amounts are to be use in the year that the donation was received or returned to the PAE per Section B Rule 9.
5. The UC shall make distributions between January 1st and March 1st of each year, although in any given year the DSC may delay distributing up to 40% of The Grant for distribution later in that year to support future national or international travel.
6. The UC may, with 80% agreement of its members, provide costs prior to international travel for those certified umpires identified by the UC as candidate for International Umpire.
7. The DSC may not receive any Tuna Fund moneys unless they are an approved seminar presenter involved in a US Sailing or World Sailing seminar or on-the-water evaluation. If moneys are granted to an eligible DSC member, it shall have written approval of the Chair of the UC and the President of US Sailing.
8.  UC shall review the USSF financial records of The Fund annually.
9. Any moneys not distributed by November 1st of any given year shall be placed in the PAE of The Fund, unless Section B Rule 5 has been approved by the DSC.
10. Only travel costs to a World Sailing Graded match race event or a principal team race event may be reimbursed.
11. Only travel costs to World Sailing Graded match race event or a principal team race event may be reimbursed.
12.  The UC shall provide an annual written annual report to the USSF providing full disclosure of all distributions, recipients, moneys retained and any other financial information with respect to the UC distributions. This shall be submitted by the DSC no later than December 31st of each year.
13. The UC shall display on its US Sailing website a copy of this document and full information on how to apply for reimbursement and the Request Form.
14. The UC may publish the annual distributions by name and/or amount on its website at US Sailing, but shall provide name and amount information for all distributions upon written request from any current US Sailing certified umpire within 30 days of receipt of that request.
15. The USSF shall make available the UC moneys to support the administration, marketing and other normal administration cost of seeking funds.  This amount shall be no more that 2% of the PA value if that value is $100,000 or less and no more than 1% at any other value.  By agreement of the UC and the USSF this amount may be less.  The UC shall account for all moneys spent and provide an annual report to the USSF and US Sailing.

SECTION C – RECIPIENT RULES

1. All recipients of distributions from the Tuna Fund shall be a current member of US Sailing and a current US Sailing certified umpire.
2. Reimbursement shall only be for eligible costs that have not been nor will be reimbursed by any other means.
3. Any individual that receives reimbursements fraudulently shall return that amount to The Tuna Fund and shall not thereafter receive any future disbursements.
4. Reimbursement shall be for travel costs only, except that UC-approved seminar instructors/evaluators may submit both travel and lodging costs.  Other costs for umpires may be considered if this rule has been amended per section D.
5. Requests for reimbursements shall be submitted electronically to the Chair of the DSC no later than December 31st of the year that the expense was incurred. The request shall be submitted on the Tuna Fund Request Form found on the US Sailing Umpire web page.
6. Each request for reimbursement shall be accompanied with a copy of the event’s Chief Umpire’s Report and a copy of the actual expense receipt.  Only legible copies shall be accepted.  This shall be done electronically.
7. A request for a distribution prior to an event maybe made to the DSC.  This must be done electronically using the Tuna Fund Request Form.  The recipient shall submit a copy of the Chief Umpire’s Report and a copy of the actual expense receipt within 60 days after the event, along with any unused funds.  If the recipient fails to do so, they are may be obligated to return the funds advanced and future distributions to that recipient shall be at the discretion of the DSC.
8. Each recipient of a distribution shall send an electronic acknowledgement to the DSC that each distribution was received.  The acknowledgement must be received by March 31st of the year of distribution.  If a receipt is not on file for past distributions, future release of funds to that individual shall be at the discretion of the DSC.

SECTION D – FUND GOVERNING RULES

US Sailing, the UC and the USSF shall be responsible to ensure that The Fund continues to grow and serve US Sailing Umpires. The following Rules shall apply at all times to The Fund.

1. The UC shall make all financial information regarding distribution of the Tuna Fund grant available to all US Sailing certified umpires, the USSF Board of Trustees and the President of US Sailing.
2. If the UC fails to conduct the affairs of the Tuna Fund under the Rules of the Fund, the USSF shall notify the UC in writing to act under The Rules.  Should the UC fail to comply with The Rules they shall forfeit the right to administer the distributions and the USSF shall appoint a committee of US Sailing certified umpires to oversee the distributions.
3. If the USSF fails to conduct the affairs of the Fund under the Rules, the UC shall notify the USSF in writing to act under the Rules of the Fund.  Should the USSF fail to comply with the Rules of the Fund then the UC with 100% agreement of its members, as well as the President of US Sailing, shall have the right to establish another endowment and transfer all funds in the Tuna Fund providing that all of the Rules of the Fund will be followed by the new trusteeship.
4. Should both the USSF and the UC, or both the UC and subsequent trusteeship, fail to manage The Fund as defined in The Rules, The Fund shall cease operations and all moneys shall be evenly distributed to US Sailing’s Disabled Sailors Fund, Storm Trysail Club and the US Sailing Junior Sailing Program.
5. All Rules of the Fund apply to all parties at all times.
6. The following Rules maybe specially altered as indicated, but must have full approval of all UC members.

We the undersigned as representatives of US Sailing, US Sailing’s Umpires Committee and the Umpires Committee Distribution Subcommittee hereby agree to abide by and act to enforce the Umpire Committee Rules, Recipient Rules and Fund Governing Rules found in this document. We also agree that future representatives of these associations and association committees shall act to enforce and abide by all of The Fund rules.

Note:  This is a copy and all required signatures have been signed on the master copy.

Bruce Burton
President, US Sailing

Glenn Oliver
Chair, US Sailing Umpire Committee

Stephen Wrigley
Chair, Distribution Subcommittee