We bring you today the second From the Hart blog post by STC President Hillary Hart. As her predecessors did, Hillary will grace STC’s Notebook regularly during her term as President on a variety of topics.
Thinking Globally and Acting Locally
The past few weeks have encouraged most of us to “think globally,” if we were not already doing so. On behalf of the STC Board and staff, I would like to extend our sympathies to our members and friends in New Zealand and Japan who have lost so much in recent weeks. The scale of these disasters reminds us how fragile life is and how important the connections and friends we have are. We hope that you and yours are safe and doing okay.
For many of us who belong to a professional community such as STC, the line can be blurred between the mission of the organization—to advance the profession and help members advance their careers—and the reason many of us belong to STC—for the personal and professional relationships. At times of crisis in locations around the world, we want to reach out and help. But STC cannot be the mechanism for that help. While STC is a charitable organization, the IRS granted this tax-exempt status only for the specific purposes of the “promotion of the profession of technical communication.” STC is not a charitable organization for humanitarian disaster relief. Therefore STC (and STC communities) cannot collect funds on behalf of another group and funnel them. In fact, to do so could jeopardize STC’s tax-exempt status.
But we can individually express our concern, send messages to members around the world, and “act locally” by donating to, mustering supplies for, or fundraising for those charities set up for disaster relief. Yesterday I attended a Sushi Roll-a-thon to Benefit Japan Disaster Relief, an event sponsored by the Austin Asian-American Chamber of Commerce. There are countless ways we may each contribute and reach out. And sharing those experiences and opportunities with each other is certainly something that STC groups can do. Such cross-group communication will definitely be enhanced once the My STC part of the new website is fully integrated for use.
Be safe.