ISTAT Jetrader - Summer 2022 - 40

ISTAT FOUNDATION
Photo courtesy of Midlands Air Ambulance,
2021 Humanitarian Grant Recipient.
Spotlight on the
Humanitarian Committee
by Richard Wall, Chief Technical Officer, CALC,
ISTAT Foundation Humanitarian Committee Chair
T
he ISTAT Foundation Humanitarian
Committee is tasked with evaluating and
dispersing grant funding allocated annually
to support humanitarian organizations
across the globe that use the power of
aviation to help save lives, promote human
welfare and alleviate suffering. At the
same time, new relationships with global nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) that meet the committee's criteria are
being developed. We are proud as a team to put resources
contributed by the ISTAT membership to work with worthy
causes across the globe.
Our team, who are all ISTAT member volunteers with
a passion for making a difference and giving back, raise
awareness of the support available and review and evaluate
applications for it in order to manage our responsibilities as a
proud and responsible organization. The application window
for our annual grants starts in February and will remain open
until the first of September, and we are actively looking for
new aviation-related charities to bring on board. This is where
everyone reading this can play a role in directing potential
recipients to the ISTAT Foundation webpage at foundation.
istat.org/Programs/Humanitarian-Aid.
Since the committee's formation in 2013, our team has
either directly or indirectly through Airlink - an NGO that
40 * THE OF F I C I AL PUBL I CAT I ON OF ISTAT
was created by ISTAT - coordinated the distribution of over
US$3.7 million of ISTAT-allocated funding. Despite the impact
of the pandemic on aviation in the last two years, this giving
was increased during this time, recognizing the crisis faced by
many aviation-related charities.
Each year, we strive to make a difference, and it is worth
pointing out that while in 2021 we supported 13 qualifying
charitable organizations across the globe - and in 2022
we expect a similar profile of recipients - we also have the
ability to react to emerging issues. This was first started with
COVID-19 relief support in 2020, covering an aid volume of
US$500,000. More recently, we provided relief support in
Beirut after the explosion, as well as in Afghanistan in early
2022, providing financial support to an Airlink-coordinated
emergency airlift of medical supplies to remote provinces.
Currently, we are focusing on the enormous and growing
crisis in Ukraine. The ISTAT Foundation, chaired by Peter
Huijbers, was able to use the platform of the annual ISTAT
Americas conference in San Diego in early March to generate
momentum for a very significant aid grant toward relief for the
Ukraine crisis, with a goal to reach US$1 million for the fund.
This comprised a pledge of US$100,000 by Air Lease Corp.,
a US$300,000 donation from the ISTAT Foundation itself
and a US$300,000 matched funding available from ISTAT for
donations raised by the membership and friends.
https://foundation.istat.org/Programs/Humanitarian-Aid https://foundation.istat.org/Programs/Humanitarian-Aid
ISTAT Jetrader - Summer 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ISTAT Jetrader - Summer 2022
