Subsidy Policy
Unit 192 of the American Contract Bridge League
1.1 Unit 192 of the American Contract Bridge League (also known as “The Eastern Ontario and the Outaouais Bridge Association” and referred to hereafter as “Unit 192") preserves and promotes the best interests of competitive contract bridge.
1.2 To this end, Unit 192 encourages its members to participate in the highest levels of competitive bridge by providing a subsidy to those members of the Unit who qualify to represent District 1 of the American Contract Bridge League or Zone II of the Canadian Bridge Federation in championship events.
2 Championship Events Covered by the Policy
2.1 The Board of Directors of Unit 192 (hereafter referred to as “the Board”) will award subsidies to pairs/teams qualifying beyond the club level for the championship events listed in the Appendix to this policy.
3.1 Only those pairs or teams from Unit 192 who qualify highest to attend those events identified in Section 2 are eligible for a subsidy. At least half the members of a pair/team must come from Unit 192 to be considered an eligible Unit 192 pair/team.
3.2 If the top qualifying Unit 192 pair/team decides not to play in the event for which it qualified to receive a subsidy, the subsidy for that event will be given to the next highest ranking pair/team from Unit 192 that chooses to attend.
3.3 Unit 192 will not provide subsidy to any player playing at any stage during this event as a paid partner or teammate.
3.4 Unit 192 will not provide a subsidy to any player who, at the time s/he qualified for a subsidy, (a) was not a paid up member of the ACBL or (b) owed money to Unit 192.
4 Determining the Total Amount Available for Subsidies
4.1 The total amount of money available for subsidies for the next calendar year under Subsection 2.1 will be the greater of (a) the interest income or (b) 5% of Unit 192’s equity at the end of the most recent fiscal year.
5 Determining Pair/Team Subsidies
5.1 Subsidies are awarded to qualifying pairs or teams (players only, unless decided otherwise by Board) playing and qualifying from a stage above the club level.
5.2 The amount of the pair/team subsidy is based on the number of Unit 192 members in the pair/team.
5.3 The maximum amount of the subsidy for a team event will be limited to four Unit 192 players. This maximum will not be exceeded even if the team contains or adds a fifth or sixth player from Unit 192.
5.4 The maximum subsidy to be given to any Unit 192 player on a qualifying pair or team will be the lesser of a mileage or airfare subsidy. The mileage subsidy is 50 percent of the Federal Government rate per vehicle per mile round trip from Ottawa to the site of the event. The airfare subsidy is the cheapest available advance purchase airfare from Ottawa to the site of the event.
5.5 Should a player receive a subsidy from any other sources, (e.g., the Canadian Bridge Federation, the American Contract Bridge League or District 1), Unit 192's subsidy will be used only to top up the other subsidy to the limit established by Unit 192 in paragraph 5.4.
5.6 Should the total of the individual subsidies for all events exceed the amount available under section 4.1, they will be prorated to reduce their total to the amount available.
5.7 All the members of a pair/team that qualifies for a subsidy will be provided with a copy of the subsidy policy a soon as possible. This will make him/her aware of (a) the conditions of payment of the subsidy (see Section 6) and (b) the obligations attached to the subsidy (see Section 7).
6.1 Subsidies are made to specific pairs/teams to compete in specific events. Failure to compete in the event nullifies the right of a pair/team to the subsidy.
6.2 Subsidies will be paid after the event is held. Although subsidies are computed for a pair or team, Unit 192 will write individual cheques for each eligible member of the pair, or to the team captain in case of a team, who competed in the event.
6.3 Any pair or team who qualified for a subsidy, but was unable to play in the event for which it qualified due to unavoidable circumstances (such as illness, injury, death or unavoidable delay) may apply to the Board for the subsidy. The application must be accompanied by verifiable evidence detailing the nature of the circumstances that prevented a player from competing. The payment of any such subsidies applied for is completely at the discretion of the Board.
6.4 The Board will not advance any subsidy money to qualifying pairs/teams, regardless of the circumstances.
7.1 Players who receive a subsidy from Unit 192 must be prepared to (a) participate in International Fund Games, (b) be auctioned off as partners for novice games or fund raising games and (c) assist Unit 192 by doing volunteer work at a Unit 192 Regional, or as otherwise requested by the Board.
7.2 Players who receive a subsidy from Unit 192 should also make an effort to raise extra funding on their own.
8 Policy Approval/Effectiveness
8.1 This policy was approved by a Unit Board email vote on December 16, 2007 and comes into effect as of that date.
8.2 This policy applies to all events for which the finals take place in 2008 or later.
The championship events for which subsidies are currently available are:
(1) Flights A, B and C of the North American Open Pairs Championships,
(2) Open and Flights A, B and C of the Grand National Teams Championships,
(3) Flights A and B of the Canadian National Team Championship.
The Board of Directors of Unit 192 may, at any time, remove or add events to this list.