As I announced in my Chair’s Report for the May issue of TIRF Today, it was at the June 1998 TESOL Board of Directors meeting that TIRF was voted into existence. For the next several months, the Foundation’s leaders worked to write the bylaws and meet the requirements of incorporation as a charitable organization under U.S. tax law. Here we are, twenty years later, with the following milestones to celebrate:

  • TIRF has funded 140 research projects involving 167 researchers.
  • There have been nearly 1,000,000 lifetime page views on TIRF’s website, with all countries of the world represented as web visitors.
  • There are now Doctoral Dissertation Grantees hailing from 24 different countries.
  • We have raised more than $1.5 million to support language education research.

So today I am taking “20/20 Vision” as the theme of my Chair’s Report. According to the American Optometric Association (click here):

20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. Having 20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. 20/20 vision only indicates the sharpness or clarity of vision at a distance.

Obviously, I’m using the optometric concept of vision and the relevant number, twenty, in a figurative sense. According to the Foundation’s website, “TIRF’s vision is that in the 21st century, personal and social value accrues to individuals who are proficient in English and in some additional value.” It is appropriate to recommit ourselves to that vision, now that we are celebrating our first twenty years and looking forward to the next twenty.

How can you help? TIRF Today reaches approximately 10,000 people every month. If each reader could donate even $5 to $20 to celebrate TIRF’s twentieth birthday, the Foundation would be on solid financial footing for the coming year.

Of course, I’d be delighted if TIRF were to receive twenty checks for $20,000, but cash donations of any amount are most welcome. As you can see from the lead story in this issue of TIRF Today, Ryan Damerow, TIRF’s Chief Operating Officer, has challenged me to a contest, to see which of us can attract more new donors. In accepting his challenge, my hope is that any new donors we recruit will continue to support TIRF for at least the next twenty years. I have a vision, a 20/20 vision, in fact. And for it to become reality, TIRF needs your help – please click here.

Best wishes,