
                      Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
                                  about
                         SOS CHINA EDUCATION FUND
                     ==================================

                            December 23, 1993

0. Introduction:

a) All the Fund's related working documents both in Chinese and Englsih are 
   available from the following two anonymous ftp sites:

   ifcss.org (IP address 129.107.1.155), /org/sos-edu subdirectotry.
   cnd.org (IP address 132.249.229.100), /pub/InfoBase/sos-Fund subdirectotry

b) current officers:
   President:       Wang, Xu           xwang@geoquest.houston.slb.com
   Secretary:       Shi, Wenyuan       wenyuan@violet.berkeley.edu
   Vice-Presidents: Luan, Shusheng     sluan@oce.orst.edu
   Vice-Presidents: Chen, Zhigang      zchen@CC.UManitoba.CA
   Vice-Presidents: Duan, Xiansheng    xdg8661@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
   Treasurer:       Huang, Zhiyong     z-huang@uiuc.edu

c) you can ask any questions by sending email to the officers or to:
   sos-official@ifcss.org

1. What is SOS China Education Fund? 

   SOS China Education Fund is a non-profit organization registered in the
   State of California, USA.  The registration number is 5115.

   The goal of SOS China Education Fund is to promote education in China,
   especially in rural areas. Currently, the Fund supports school-aged
   children who are or will be out of school due to the proverty in China 
   rural areas. 

2. Is the donation tax-deductible?

   Yes, our application to IRS for tax-exemption has recently been approved. 
   Our tax number is 94-3168155.  Your cancelled check and the thank-you
   letter we send to you, with our tax number, is all your need to claim
   tax-exemption in your tax form. 

3. What actual percentage of my donation indeed goes to the children in
   need?  

   In most of the cases, 100% donation will be used for the needed children.
   The only other expense is the operation fee (postage, printing fee and
   application fee). Please note that we are a group of volunteers who work
   for this fund without any pay. The operation fees of the Fund so far have
   been donated by members.
 
4. As donators, do we have a say on how money is spent?

   Yes. Your donation will be used only according to your instruction. In
   addition, donators will be kept informed on how their donation has been
   spent. 

5. Who maintains the books for the fund? Is the books open for public 
   inspections?

   The FUND account is opened in:

             Busey Bank
             201 W. Main
             P.O. Box 489
             Urbana, IL 61801

   The fund has a financial committee to maintain the books for the fund.
   All donated money will be recieved by our treasurer Zhiyong Huang, who will
   maintain a record of the donations received.  Then She will send all the 
   checks to our financial committee Chair Xiansheng Duan, who deposit the 
   checks into our bank account and keep his independent books.  Every half 
   a year, a detailed financial statement will be released.  Any usage of
   the donated money has to be approved by both the executive committee and 
   financial committee, and they can be used only for the purpose of the
   Fund (stated in our Constitution).   
  
   Yes, public can get the financial statement from the financial committee  
   upon request.  It has been suggested that our books should also be
   available in some public departments. 

   An updated SOS account balance sheet is available to public auditting
   from the following two anonymous ftp sites:

      ifcss.org (IP address 129.107.1.155), /org/sos-edu/account
      cnd.org (IP address 132.249.229.100), /pub/InfoBase/sos-Fund/account

   We love this idea and are investigating the legal aspects as well as the
   feasibility of this.  If any of you know more on this, please let us know.
   Thank you.
   
6. Which accounting firm does the audit?
   
   Due to the Fund's present limited operational budget, we can not afford
   the expenses of hiring a professional accounting firm to audit our
   financial records. Currently, within the fund, we are doing "triangle"
   control on receiving and using donated money, as stated above, to make
   sure the money has been handled properly. A copy of updated SOS account 
   balance sheet is in following two anonymous ftp sites:

    ifcss.org (IP address 129.107.1.155), /org/sos-edu/account
    cnd.org (IP address 132.249.229.100), /pub/InfoBase/sos-edu/account

   As said above, we welcomepublic's inspection and supervision at any time.  

7. Who decide which schools/children get the money?

   We have set up an evaluation committee to take care of this part of the 
   job.  

8. Who are the responsible persons in China who carry out the mission?

   We are trying to set up a coordinators-system in China to help us
   identify and verify the potential candidates.  We also want to contact
   local school principals to recommend potential candidates to us.  However
   the money will award to the kids deirectly or to the school as tuition
   for the kids. 

   We also welcome any interested friends to provide us information or 
   recommend to us directly the kids/schools who are in dire need of
   financial support, as well as  qualified candidates in China who are
   willing to be our voluntary coordinator.

9. I heard in China there is a HOPE Project which carries similar task. Are 
   you a overseas section of them or supported by Chinese government?

   No, not at all.  As stated in our constitution, our fund is an independent, 
   non-profit, non-political organization.  SOS China Education Fund is not
   in any sense affiliated with or becoming a subsection of any other 
   organizations.  

   To serve the fund purpose better, we can not avoid contact with offices
   of the Chinese government, especialy the local Education offices.  In
   addition, we plan to establish some working relationship with China Youth
   Foundation (especially HOPE PROJECT) in order to get more information
   about poor education situation in China. However among all these
   activities, we will maintain our independece both in management and
   finance, and transfer donations to the kids/schools directly. 

10. Who are the members of SOS China Education Fund? Who can be qualified as
    members of SOS China Education Fund?

   The members of SOS China Education Fund are just like you--students or
   scholars, Chinese or American, who share the goal of promoting education
   in China through joint efforts.

   The only qualification needed to become a member of the Fund is that one
   shares the same goal of the Fund and is willing to help in one way or
   another to promote this goal in cooperation with other members.

11. I am interested in donation, where do I mail my check? And how do I 
    communicate with you after my donation?

    Please mail your donation to "Zhiyong Huang,
    And make your check/money order payable to "SOS China Education Fund".

    The Fund, after receiving your donation, will mail you a thank-you
    letter for the purpose of acknowledgement and your tax-emempt
    processing.  Then your name will be put on our donator list so that you
    can receive our regular newsletter to inform you the Fund's work
    progress.  You are also welcome to communicate with any of the listed
    Fund's officers directly by surface or electronic mail.  Your comments
    and suggestions are always welcome.

    If you are interested, you can also be added onto our SOS-Friends e-mail
    list to keep a close eye on the Fund's operation.



