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== Network ==
== Network ==
“Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund through its affiliate organizations has presence in 16 countries around the world: [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Brazil]], [[Argentina]], [[Great Britain]], [[France]], [[Netherlands]], [[Germany]], [[Switzerland]], [[Austria]], [[Sweden]], [[Greece]], [[Cyprus]], [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], and [[Australia]].<ref>[http://www.armeniafundusa.org/himnadram.htm Armeniafundusa.org: Armenia Fund Worldwide]</ref>
“Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund through its affiliate organizations has presence in 16 countries around the world: [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Brazil]], [[Argentina]], [[Great Britain]], [[France]], [[Netherlands]], [[Germany]], [[Switzerland]], [[Austria]], [[Sweden]], [[Greece]], [[Cyprus]], [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], and [[Australia]].<ref>[http://www.armeniafundusa.org/himnadram.htm Armeniafundusa.org: Armenia Fund Worldwide]</ref>

== Management structure ==
* Executive Director - [[Sarkis Kotanjian]]


=== List of the members of the Presidium of the Board of Trustees===
=== List of the members of the Presidium of the Board of Trustees===
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| vital water and rural development projects in Armenia and Artsakh
| vital water and rural development projects in Armenia and Artsakh
|}
|}

== Criticism ==
* ''[[Corruption]]''.<ref>[http://www.snff.org/about/ara-k-manoogian/ Snff.org: Ara K. Manoogian]</ref> The question millions of Armenians have been asking themselves “To donate or not to donate?” on every Thanksgiving since 1992 before making a pledge to “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund.<ref>[http://www.thetruthmustbetold.com/haaf-cover-up/ TheTruthMustBeTold.com: “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund Cover-Up Foiled]</ref> Despite their willingness to lend a helping hand, numerous contributors tend to think twice before making a donation, due to multiple reports and evidence of corruption linked to the activities of the Fund.<ref>[http://independentarmenia.blogspot.hu/2007/11/armenia-fund-telethon.html Independentarmenia.blogspot.hu: Armenia Fund Telethon]</ref> More and more people vow not to donate.<ref>[http://www.keghart.com/Manoogian_DonationsI White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund- Part I of III]</ref>“Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund is located at Government Building #3 Yerevan, Armenia 0010 and the money raised by the Armenia All-Armenian Fund gets into the hands of the Government<ref>[http://www.keghart.com/Manoogian_DonationsI White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund- Part I of III]</ref> through different ways (ordering the Executive Director to deposit certain amounts of donated money to bank accounts, which do not belong to the Fund; making sure construction contracts are signed with construction companies owned by officials or people close to them; eventual privatization of a building constructed by means of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund; building improvements on lands owned by a state official or the people close to them, etc.)<ref>[http://www.thetruthmustbetold.com/wp-content/uploads/haaf-eng.pdf TheTruthMustBeTold.com: Ara K. Manoogian - White paper on "Hayastan" All Armenian Fund]</ref>
* ''[[Political interests]] rather than [[charity]]''. List of the members of the Presidium of the Board of Trustees are mainly [[Armenian political leaders]].<ref>[http://pfarmenia.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/white-paper-on-%E2%80%9Chayastan%E2%80%9D-all-armenian-fund/ Pfarmenia.Wordpress.com: White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund by Ara K. Manoogian]</ref> This criticism started the moment [[Manushak Petrosyan]], an old and loyal friend of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was appointed the first Executive Director in 1992. As a result of the Fund’s growing subordination to the authorities, funding of projects by Diaspora Armenians became more and more dependent on the political decisions made by the country’s president. Criticism increased becoming obvious when ARF boycotted the activities of the fund after the authorities began persecuting its party members in Armenia in 1997. It became especially obvious when Manushak Petrosyan’s resignation immediately followed that of [[Levon Ter-Petrosyan]]’s in 1998, amid scandals in the press about the riches she had amassed within 6 years in office, the luxurious villa she had managed to build, as well as about the ownership of the Pioneer Bar, Rio shoe store and villas by certain members of the fund administration. [[Raffi Hovhannisian]] is, perhaps, the only former executive director who publicly admitted that the fund was a politicized structure. “Of course, there was a certain amount of politicization. By resigning, Manushak Petrosyan, the former executive director, fed all the existing doubts that the fund is indeed a politicized organization pleasing the authorities. It is that politicization that had a negative impact on our people’s perception of the fund both in Armenia, [[Artsakh]] (Armenians call "Nagorno-Karabakh" as "Artsakh") and the Diaspora,” he said in an interview to Azg Daily in 1999. That same year Aravot Daily wrote: “In the past years, the Armenian Diaspora was donating money to Armenia through various funds. Most of the transactions were carried out through “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund. Some funds try to stay as far away from politics as they can. But they don’t always succeed. A few years ago the Greek-Armenian community had raised $300,000 for donating to Armenia. The donation was being constantly postponed due to political reasons. Only in autumn of 1998 did the representatives visit the homeland and handed the bank note to Armenian President [[Robert Kocharyan]].”<ref>[http://www.keghart.com/Manoogian_DonationsI White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund- Part I of III]</ref>
* ''Support for [[separatism]]''. The financial assistance does not only go to [[Armenian Republic]], but also to non-recognized [[Nagorno-Karabakh Republic]]. As it is considered integral part of Azerbaijan Republic by all international law and organizations, Armenian Fund is claimed to finance separatism.
* ''Mismatches in the amounts of raised funds''. As if large sums of money are announced, but are never collected during the Telethon. [[Ter-Ghevondyan]], Executive Director of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund (1998-2004), however, drew a different picture. He told [[Haykakan Zhamanak]] in 2002 that “for instance, 5% of our compatriots living in Los Angeles, as a rule, break their pledges and refuse to pay their “national tribute” when collecting the funds. Moreover, when the organizers of the Telethon tried to verify the authenticity of certain calls 5 minutes after the announcement of sizable donations, it turned out that they had been simply fooled—when introducing themselves during the live TV broadcast, the callers had provided wrong addresses and phone numbers.” In May 2004 [[Naira Melkumyan]] complained to journalists about the Fund’s failure to utilize the full potential of [[Los Angeles, CA]]. According to her, $910 thousand was transferred in 2003 instead of the pledged $1.3 million. “This problem exists: a pledge is given and then is broken. We must be demanding when it comes to our pledges and possibilities,” Naira Melkumyan was quoted by Haykakan Zhamanak as saying, “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund announced in 2005 to have raised $7.7 million, whereas, half a year later, according to Haykakan Zhamanak , had to admit to having barely collected $5 million (about 35% of all the pledged funds vs. 5% mentioned by [[Mr. Kotanjian]]). The situation didn’t change much four years later. In an interview to Hetq , in 2008, [[Vahe Aghabekyants]], Executive Director of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund (2007–08) said that the inability to collect the donation is often due to the donors’ financial situation. Aghabekyants brought the example of a donor whose company’s shares valued $900 million at the time of the pledge, but when they dropped to $150 million he was unable to donate the promised half a million dollars.<ref>[http://www.keghart.com/Manoogian_DonationsII Keghart.com: To Donate Or Not To Donate II - White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund PART II]</ref>
* ''Mandatory "donations"''. The method of mandatory donation has been widely exercised in the Republic of Armenia<ref>[http://www.keghart.com/Manoogian_DonationsIII Keghart.com: To Donate Or Not To Donate III - White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund PART III]</ref> and non-recognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. On November 19, 2003, a mother called Aravot to sound an alarm about the public school #132 in Yerevan, which forced its students to contribute AMD 3,000 to “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund. The newspaper found out that neither the Department of Education of the Mayor’s Office, nor the Ministry of Education and Science had given any such orders to public schools. The journalist only managed to speak to the vice-principal, who said that it was just a suggested donation of AMD 10-20. “In a word, we received the same response from a school administration as every other time, after alarms about fundraisers,” concludes the newspaper. [[Tigran Paskevichyan]], former head of the Public Relations Department of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund, expressed his concern regarding a donation that came from an orphanage in [[Vanadzor]] in December 2004. In his article “All-Armenian Fund Or Rich Man’s Club,” which left Naira Melkumyan, then newly appointed Executive Director of the Fund, bitter, Mr. Paskevichyan wrote: “Everyone in the world knows that orphanages themselves function thanks to donations. But an orphanage in Armenia becomes a donor. <…> The children in the orphanage, of course, don’t have money; this means that the administration has cut certain expenses in order to make a contribution. And that is absurd.” After the 2007 Telethon, “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund announced that $15 million-worth pledges were received. On December 19, 2007, Haykakan Zhamanak wrote that for several weeks they kept receiving calls from certain state institutions, complaining that “2% is deducted from the salaries of the workers from those state institutions with an excuse that it was for the Telethon of “Hayastan” Fund.” The newspaper staff found out that over 10% had been deducted from the salaries of Public TV employees for the needs of the Fund.<ref>[http://www.keghart.com/Manoogian_DonationsII Keghart.com: To Donate Or Not To Donate II - White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund PART II]</ref>
* ''Inadequate allocation of funds''. When the [[Syrian civil war]] began the most urgent Armenian issue at that moment was the tragic condition of Syrian Armenians, as their situation was worsening on a daily basis.<ref>[http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/11/06/aleppo-burns-while-we-fiddle-a-wake-up-call-to-all-armenians/ ArmenianWeekly.com: Aleppo Burns while We Fiddle: A Wake-up Call to All Armenians]</ref> Hayastan Fund and its 25 affiliates worldwide acted slower in organizing an emergency telethon and donating all the proceeds to alleviate the dire needs of Syrian Armenians, be they in Syria, Armenia or elsewhere. After much delay, the Fund decided to allocate 10% of the amount it would collect to [[Syrian Armenians]].<ref>[http://www.tert.am/en/news/2013/01/06/AAF/?sw Tert.am: Hayastan All-Armenian Fund to allocate $250,000-$300,000 to Syrian Armenians]</ref> This small percentage, compared to the vast needs of that threatened community, disappointed many potential donors. Instead of assuming collective responsibility for this unwise decision and reversing it, the Fund’s representatives engaged in unnecessary finger pointing. When complaints from the public grew louder, some of the Fund’s affiliates grudgingly revised the 10% quota to an unspecified portion of the total amount raised, after setting aside the funds earmarked for other projects. Also, the Fund allowed donors the option of designating 100% of their contributions to Syrian relief. Of course, it would have been preferable if Hayastan Fund had designated all donations to Syrian Armenians, except those earmarked by donors for other projects. The situation became more confusing when [[Bedros Terzian]], Chairman of Armenia Fund in France, made a surprising announcement at the conclusion of the Fund’s European [[phonethon]] (fundraising by telephone) on November 18. In an euphoric mood, he promised to allocate a portion of the $1.8 million raised to reconstruct housing for Armenians in Aleppo after the war. But Mr. Terzian did not take into consideration that food, medicine and other basic necessities for survival were urgently needed by Syrian Armenians rather than after the war, at which time the Armenian community may have dwindled along with its housing needs.<ref>[http://asbarez.com/106769/the-annual-hayastan-fund-telethon-a-constructive-critique/ Asbarez.com: The Annual Hayastan Fund Telethon: A Constructive Critique]</ref> Later the fund has opened a bank account for contribute to the struggling Syrian-Armenian community, as well as streamline the fundraising process.<ref>[http://www.panorama.am/en/society/2012/10/20/armenian-found/ Panorama.am: Hayastan All-Armenian Fund establishes bank account for donations to Syrian-Armenian community]</ref>
* ''Artificial increase in costs for overvalued projects''. The cost of the “Stepanakert Elderly House Reconstruction,” an ongoing project of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund (HAAF), increased by 265%. This dramatic increase from about $400 thousand as of October 2011 to about $1 million as of November 2011 was accompanied by the addition of the Artsakh government as a co-sponsor of the project. Thus, the allegedly cash-strapped Artsakh government has committed to investing $600,000 to an already overvalued project.<ref>[http://www.thetruthmustbetold.com/nursing-home-update/ TheTruthMustBeTold.com: How to Renovate Already Renovated Retirement Home (NEW DETAILS)]</ref>
* ''Avoiding explanations, answers to questions, censorship''.<ref>[http://www.thetruthmustbetold.com/ara-vardanyan-interview-dilanyan-show/ TheTruthMustBeTold.com: “Hayastan” All-Armenia Fund’s Ara Vardanyan LIVE call-in Interview]</ref> People who criticized activities of the fund faced different obstacles (ban on Facebook page of the fund, unanswered questions, etc.)<ref>[http://www.thetruthmustbetold.com/fb-haaf-censorship/ TheTruthMustBeTold.com: What “Hayastan” All-Armenia Fund Does Not Want You to Know]</ref>


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 22:20, 18 February 2013

Armenia Fund (full name “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund, Armenian: Հայաստան համահայկական հիմնադրամ) was established in 1994 in Los Angeles, California. Armenia Fund, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-governmental, non-political corporation. Serving as the United States’ Western Region affiliate of the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund along with its nineteen subsidiaries around the world, Armenia Fund, Inc. has issued over $120 million of electricity development guarantee and humanitarian revenue for Armenia and non-recognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan).[1]

Goals

Armenia Fund attempts to rebuild Armenia's economy and assist in the well-being of life in the region. Additionally, the organization attempts to rebuild major infrastructures damaged in Karabakh during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.[2] The Fund has adopted a policy to go “Beyond Bricks and Mortar” to provide sustainability for projects it sponsors.[3]

Network

“Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund through its affiliate organizations has presence in 16 countries around the world: United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, and Australia.[4]

List of the members of the Presidium of the Board of Trustees

  1. Serzh Sargsyan – President of the Republic of Armenia, President of the Board of Trustees of the Fund;
  2. Gagik Harutunyan – Head of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees;
  3. Arkady Ghukasyan – Special envoy of the President of Armenia, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees;
  4. Hovik Abrahamyan – Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia;
  5. Tigran Sargsyan – Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia;
  6. Bako Sahakyan – President of non-recognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic;
  7. Edvard Nalbandian – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia;
  8. H.H. Garegin II – Catholicos of All Armenians;
  9. Hirair Hovnanian – Armenian Assembly of America;
  10. Petros Terzian – France;
  11. Albert Boyajian – USA;
  12. Samvel Karapetyan – Russia.

Corporate Board

  1. Ara Aghishian, Esq. Chairman;
  2. Armenian Assembly of America;
  3. Armenian Cultural Foundation;
  4. Armenian Catholic Eparchy of U.S. and Canada;
  5. Armenian Evangelical Union of North America;
  6. Armenian General Benevolent Union;
  7. Armenian Relief Society of Western U.S.A.;
  8. Nor Serount Cultural Association;
  9. Tekeyan Cultural Association of America;
  10. Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America;
  11. Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of North America;[5]

Telethon

Beginning in 1997, an annual telethon was set up and televised across the globe.

Telethon No. Year Raised Phoneathon Main Goal
1st 1997 $2,600,000 [6] rebuilding Karabakh's infrastructure
2nd 1998 $2,100,000 [7] 55-kilometer Segment of Goris-Stepanakert Highway
3rd 1999 $?? [8] to construct the 169-km North-South "Backbone" Highway in Karabakh
4th 2000 $?? continued construction of the North-South Highway in Karabakh, Armenia, as well as the construction of four schools in the country's earthquake zone
cancelled 2001 $0 [9] Armenia Fund and its 19 worldwide affiliates cancelled Telethon 2001 in solidarity with its American brothers and sisters over the tragic events of September 11, 2001
5th 2002 $5,000,000[10] $650,000 continued construction of the North-South Highway in Karabakh
6th 2003 $6,000,000[11] to build North-South "Backbone" Highway in Karabakh
7th 2004 $11,400,000[12] to complete the North-South "Backbone" Highway in Karabakh
8th 2005 $7,770,000[13] revitalizing war torn region of Mardakert (Karabakh) - including renovation of a regional hospital, construction of a water pipeline network, agricultural development, and the construction of new local school.
9th 2006 $13,700,000[14] revitalizing war torn region of Hadrut (Karabakh) - including reconstruction of a regional hospital, a series of new schools, new water pipelines and distribution networks, as well a comprehensive regional agricultural development program
10th 2007 $15,275,000[15] revitalizing Armenia's rural villages in Tavush Region (part of Village Development Program)
11th 2008 $35,000,000[16] core infrastructure projects in remote areas of Armenia and Karabakh (Martuni, Mardakert, Hadrut)
12th 2009 $15,875,043[17] $1,800,000 development of war-ravaged town of Shushi
13th 2010 $20,862,733[18] €1,300,000 development of modern drinking and irrigation water systems in Karabakh’s 200 villages
14th 2011 $31,000,000[19] €1,350,000 vital water and rural development projects in Armenia and Artsakh

References

  1. ^ Armenia fund
  2. ^ Nations Abroad: diaspora politics and international relations in the Former Soviet Union By Neil J. Melvin, Charles King - Page 92
  3. ^ Armeniafundusa.org: ARMENIA FUND USA THANKS UNITED ARMENIAN FUND FOR HUMANITARIAN AID SHIPPING ASSISTANCE
  4. ^ Armeniafundusa.org: Armenia Fund Worldwide
  5. ^ Armeniafund.org: Corporate Board
  6. ^ Telethon 1997
  7. ^ Telethon 1998
  8. ^ Telethon 1999
  9. ^ Telethon 2001 cancellation
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ Telethon 2003
  12. ^ Telethon 2004
  13. ^ Telethon 2005
  14. ^ Telethon 2006
  15. ^ Telethon 2007
  16. ^ Telethon 2008
  17. ^ Telethon 2009
  18. ^ Telethon 2010
  19. ^ Telethon 2011

External links

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