Brenda Anderson
The SITE Foundation,
the research arm of the Society of Incentive & Travel
Executives, announced in late May it was breaking with the
association and relaunching itself as an independent re-search
foundation.
According to Ira Almeas, CITE, president of the SITE
Foundation’s board of trustees, the foundation is pursuing its
independent status to provide funding for research to benefit the
entire incentives industry, rather than just the incentive travel
segment. He added that the group is seeking a new name.
At press time, Almeas denied rumors that the foundation would
align with the Incentive Marketing Asso-ciation, stating that it
would remain independent. He said the foundation’s current funds
will continue to be used to support SITE research, including
several chapter studies. (The foundation raises money via its
annual golf invitational, which will be augmented by a second
tournament, to be held annually in Europe; the first match will
take place this fall in Spain.)
SITE leaders said the foundation’s move caught them off guard,
noting that an ongoing effort by both sides to determine how best
to spend foundation funds seemingly had been making progress.
“We are disappointed,” said SITE CEO Brenda Anderson. “We were
affiliated with the foundation for 20 years, but now we need to
look ahead.” She added that any changes in the foundation’s
function were supposed to be cleared with SITE’s board, “but that
did not happen.”
Regarding the foundation’s funds, Anderson said, “I am sure
the foundation will honor the obligations [for SITE research] that
were in place.”
As for the future funding for SITE’s research and education,
Anderson said, “We are looking into a lot of things right now,
among them the possibility of launching our own foundation.”