The Mission of the United States Military Academy

To educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.

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This "project" was/is an experiment and can be considered a small and interim Class Gift. The effort has the elements needed to drive interest and participation in our future Gift efforts:

1. Founded on the Purpose of USMA - To educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets...
2. To enhance the Cadet experience - The Long Gray Line stretches...
3. In support of the S&F - Those interacting and mentoring Cadets daily...
4. To involve the Class -- the opportunity to engage with Cadets and West Point -- forming relationships, sharing experiences, mentoring, etc., and our fellowship with each other on the basis of our common life experiences...
5. To send a message - In this case, the cultural and social message carried by the Opera from the Civil War (150 years ago and portrayed in Act I), to the Voting Rights Act (50 years ago and portrayed in Act II), and leaving us with the question of where we are today. 

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The greatest challenge we have had in this process is a collective Class understanding of how AOG as a support organization functions to facilitate our efforts. As donors, we want the ability to select and direct our resources. Meanwhile, AOG strives to maintain compliance with all the necessary regulations and mandates that it faces. Developing a process to work with AOG for the benefit of West Point and today's Cadets will be critical to our success. 

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Funding for the Academy is not exclusively provided by the Government. Alumni and citizens make a meaningful contribution to the Academy's budget and in particular for funding Cadet activities with further and extend the West Point experience. The process between USMA and the West Point Association of Graduates (AOG) in diagramed below.

We have added these diagrams because it is our feeling that donors need to understand the process of actually moving funds into a position where and when they can be applied to the Cadet activity to be supported. This understanding will improve the planning process and enable donors to better direct their donations to toward the objectives they seek.

Responsible agency: 

              USMA                                                                AOG

The next steps become more complicated when AOG receives an unsolicited offer from a potential donor (in this case, the Class of '81). The decision points are 1) WPAOG confirms whether of not the offer supports any pre-approved margin of excellence requirement. If not, they confirm through DAA that the gift could be put to use. 2) Are there any objections? - USMA Internal Staffing: The receiving agency (e.g. Dean’s office) must concur with the gift and the USMA SJA must have no legal objections. 3) Processed for acceptance: over $500,000 must be accepted by the SecArmy. $500,000 and under is accepted by the Superintendent with acceptance authority for $20,000 and under delegated to the DAA under 10 USC Sec 4356.

In the diagram below: DAA = Directorate of Academy Advancement, O = Offer Day, and A = Acceptance Day (act of acceptance - this has nothing to do with Plebes!), E = Request for Expenditure Day, DFAS = Defense Finance and Accounting Service, and GFEBS = General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS). 

Notes:

Cash gifts follow the entire process through GFEBS execution.
Gifts in kind (GIK) follow the same process and are made available to the Academy on A Day and accounted for IAW Army regulations.
Charts reflect an average process duration.
Contracts will require an additional 30-45 days to compete and award.