April 22, 2020

Dear Fellow ASOR Members,

The ASOR family is a strong and close one, and that fact has never been more evident than in these challenging and stressful times. Due to the rapidly changing situation with the COVID-19 crisis, we plan to update this letter at least bi-monthly.

Please know that we at ASOR are doing all that we can to serve our constituents, while keeping the safety and health of our members, volunteers, officers, and employees as our highest priority.

First, we want to share (and in some cases repeat) the things we are doing to ensure that everyone is as safe as possible:

• Health and Safety of ASOR members and staff—To date, no ASOR full-time staff have experienced a COVID-19 illness. One former part-time staff member was presumptively positive, and fortunately that person has now recovered. Related, we learned that one member contracted the virus, and fortunately that member also has recovered. We are sad to report that one parent of a member passed away from a COVID-19 illness.  If you are aware of anyone who has experienced an illness and if ASOR might provide assistance, please e-mail Andy Vaughn.
• The ASOR Office—The James F. Strange Center—in Old Town Alexandria is operating on remote-only work schedule. The staff is staying in touch with frequent messaging and video conferencing. No layoffs have occurred, and we have received word that we have been approved for a SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan that was made available through the CARES Act. Pending finalization of the loan and receipt of funds, we anticipate that much of this loan will be forgiven and effectively become a “grant.” Our dedicated staff has been, and continues to be, outstanding.
• Physical Mail Delivery—ASOR’s ability to receive and to process physical mail has been greatly reduced. Please consider making membership payments and gifts via our secure online store. Please e-mail info@asor.org if you have questions or need help. You may also send us a phone number by e-mail if you would like us to call you to make a credit card payment over the phone (please do not send credit card information by e-mail).
• The ASOR Board Meeting: We have rescheduled the meeting for May 14th, and it will be held as a virtual  meeting. ASOR continues to test our new Zoom subscription, which we are using this platform more and more to carry out essential business.
• Dig Scholarships, Excavation Grants, and Research Fellowships—After much consideration, ASOR decided to postpone all dig scholarships for excavation participants until 2021. We did not reach this decision lightly. We heard that more than 80% of ASOR-affiliated excavations have canceled their summer field work, and the remainder of the projects will most likely cancel as well. We anticipate deciding about excavation grants and research fellowships in late April or early May. We will segregate endowment distributions and gifts already received for awards in 2021, if necessary. Calendar year 2020 was shaping up to be our largest year ever for scholarships, grants, and fellowships, for which we are grateful to all of our supporters. We hope that the segregated funds will enable a 50% increase in funding over 2019 levels in 2021.

Second, we want to share some of the things that we are doing to support you, our members, while many are practicing social and physical distancing:

• Membership Scholarships Available—If you have experienced a financial challenge because of the COVID-19 crisis (or if you know of an ASOR member who has a need), please ask about a membership scholarship. Some generous members of the ASOR family have pledged funds to pay the membership dues for anyone who has lost employment or substantial income because of this crisis. To date, we have awarded four such scholarships, and have pledges to support the anticipated need through June. Please contact Felice Herman or Andy Vaughn for more information.
• Online Resources—The ASOR office staff (led by Marta Ostovich) has launched webpages to share resources supporting students, professors, and teachers at all levels who are participating in online education with little advance notice. These pages are expanding daily; we invite you to participate so that we can help each other by sharing ideas and expertise.
• Online access to ASOR journals—The full-text and enhanced online access to ASOR journals have never been more important. Members with online access to journals can not only view the full text of articles, but all illustrations and figures may be downloaded seamlessly into Powerpoint. Click here for a webpage that outlines all of these features. Please e-mail Felice Herman if you have questions.
• Publications—Thanks to the excellent work of our editorial teams, the ASOR staff, and our partnerships with University of Chicago Press and ISD, the production and distribution of ASOR journals and books continue without interruption. Everyone is working remotely as much as possible, and we do not anticipate any interruptions in fulfilling this vital member service.
• Annual Meeting—We continue to prepare for our largest and best Annual Meeting in Boston in November. We expect more than 1,200 attendees; as of April 20, 2020, we already have 700 registrants. Because of the uncertainty of travel, we have extended the Early Bird registration rate until July 8, 2020. In late June, we will re-evaluate the situation and determine if a further extension is warranted. The Program Committee and ASOR staff are working remotely to ensure that the Annual Meeting program will be the strongest ever. We, of course, will keep the health of all participants as our highest priority.
• General Operations—The ASOR staff and our volunteers continue to respond to e-mails and phone calls. With our staff working remotely, answering phones and voicemail may be delayed. Please consider sending an e-mail if you are able.
• Shepard Urgent Action Grants—In the midst of so many things being postponed, we are thrilled to announce a new initiative that we hope to implement in spite of social distancing and self-quarantining efforts. Launched on April 2, 2020, these new grants are designed to address urgent needs for cultural heritage site mitigation and stabilization. Funding may be available in as little as 4-6 weeks following an application. Please check out the webpage and announcement.

Third, we need to share some challenges. We will continue to update you on these items. If you are aware of other issues that we should communicate in subsequent member correspondence, please let us know.

• The programs at our Overseas Research Centers in Amman, Jerusalem, and Nicosia are suffering from travel restrictions and cutbacks in fieldwork. Significant portions of their income derive from visits to and work on ASOR field projects and other research, for which they provide essential support and services. For the most part, these projects have been cancelled for 2020. We have been in touch with all the directors. They are coping effectively with the changing circumstances. The Albright in Jerusalem has been particularly hit hard.
• ASOR’s Endowment Accounts—Like many institutions, ASOR has invested our endowment accounts using an 80/20 allocation—80% in equities and 20% in bonds and cash. We have thus experienced a significant correction over the first quarter of 2020. As of March 31, 2020, most of our endowment accounts were down 12.1% for the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). Because we maintain a 20% allocation in bonds and cash, we re-balanced our portfolios in April 2020, per our investment guidelines. We also make quarterly distributions based on averages from the last 12 quarters, so we will continue to be conservative in distributing funds from endowments. In addition, the Finance Committee voted unanimously to forego distributions from endowment accounts for excavation grants and dig scholarships for the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2020 in order to allow our accounts to recover some of their market losses. We have taken our normal distribution from our endowment for operations account, and we continue to use a conservative 3.5% withdraw rate.
• ASOR’s Annual Fund (unrestricted giving)—While ASOR remains in sound financial shape, while we anticipate receiving a Paycheck Protection Program Loan to assist with staff salaries, and while we have modest accumulated funds to see us through a challenging year, we need members to consider unrestricted contributions and gifts. To date in this fiscal year (ends June 30, 2020), we have received less than half of the $125,000 that we budgeted for unrestricted giving. Click here to make a gift online.

Finally, we want to conclude as we began—your health and well-being is our highest concern. We are grateful for your continued support of ASOR and of your fellow members. You are, and continue to be, amazing.

Best regards,

Sharon Herbert, ASOR President (president@asor.org)
Richard Coffman, ASOR Board Chair (RCoffman@coffmanlawfirm.com)
Andy Vaughn, ASOR Executive Director (executive-director@asor.org)