Czech-Japanese Association

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The Harumi Fund

The Harumi Fund is the legacy of an extraordinary woman, Mrs. Harumi Yamada, who contributed immeasurably to the deepening of the Czech-Japanese relations, promoting the Japanese culture, and the shape of the Czech-Japanese Association as we know it today. Not only as a teacher of Japanese, calligraphy and sumi-e, a volunteer and an event organizer, but also as a mentor, advisor and an energetic personality. Sadly, she left us suddenly and forever in 2021.

Her husband decided to support the continuation of her activities and ideas, and therefore donated 800,000 CZK from her estate to the CJA for the following purposes:

Spreading the legacy of Harumi Yamada by promoting Japanese culture and making it accessible to the public and the disadvantaged, through projects or events for children, schools and the elderly or by working with sheltered workshops.
Supporting art students and organizing an annual exhibition of their work.
The donation can also be used to create publications and textbooks related to Japanese, Japanese calligraphy or ink painting.

The Czech-Japanese Society has added CZK 200,000 from its own resources to this generous donation. Thus, the Harumi Fund was established to care for and manage these funds. Here are the key rules and principles for their use:

The CJA, by the action of its Executive Committee, accepted this donation and established the following general rules for its use:

  1. This is an internal fund established with resources from a long-time member and an associate of the CSA, so it is to be used primarily to fulfil the above purpose by members and long-time associates of the CSA.
  2. CJA is committed to regularly informing the donor about how the fund is being used. Therefore, anyone who fulfils the conditions for the use of the fund will apply for the allocation through an application form submitted to the CJA office.
  3. The approval of the application and allocation of funds is not guaranteed, it is in the full subjective competence of the Board of Directors to approve or reject the application, to request more information, to adjust the amount or to suggest changes in the application to the applicant.
  4. A condition for the allocation of funds is the presentation and accounting of the event as a CJA event. In exceptional cases, funds may also be allocated for events co-organised by the CJA.
  5. After the event has been carried out, a short report on the course of the event and the funds spent must be written and submitted to the CJA office without delay so that CJA can submit it to the donor for verification of the use of funds and include it in the annual report of the year in which the activity was carried out. The report shall also include all documents related to the costs of the event/project.

In view of the above, the Board of Directors of the CJA is authorised by the General Assembly of the CJA to carry out the aforementioned actions, which are expected to be carried out with full care and economy.

If you are planning an event, project, workshop or an exhibition resonating with the ideas and purposes of the Harumi Fund, you may contact us at office@japan.cz and request the application form to be filled in. Your application shall then be considered by the Board of Directors of the Association.