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The Xavier Zubiri Foundation of North America
Annual Report, 1998
I. Introduction
The Xavier Zubiri Foundation of North America is pleased to present this first annual report. The Foundation was established in 1997 to promote and disseminate Zubiri’s ideas and philosophy, primarily in North America and the English-speaking world. However, there has been considerable interest shown in the Foundation by scholars and others from South America as well; so the Foundation works with them too. The Foundation also cooperates with the Fundación Xavier Zubiri in Madrid. The time period from the Foundation’s inception to 1 December 1998 has been very active and has witnessed many exciting developments. Interest in Zubiri in the United States continues to grow, albeit slowly; those who have contacted the Foundation are scattered throughout the country. The Foundation’s extensive Web site has been the key to establishing contact with such persons, and with interested people as far away as Australia.
II. Objectives of the Foundation
The Foundation was created with the following objectives:
- Publish and distribute translations of Zubiri's works.
- Serve as a resource center for research and study of Zubiri.
- Sponsor seminars on Zubiri, and sessions on Zubiri at major conferences .
- Allow scholars studying Zubiri to exchange ideas, papers, and other research material.
- When resources permit, sponsor established scholars to study Zubiri in Madrid, and fellowships for graduate students interested in doing theses and dissertations on Zubiri.
- Maintain a liaison with the Fundación Xavier Zubiri in Madrid and coordinate North American activities with those in Spain and elsewhere in the world.
- Ensure accurate interpretations of Zubiri’s works, and thwart efforts to use Zubiri’s name or philosophy to advance ungrounded political, religious, or other agendas.
Through the course of its first 21 months of existence, the Foundation has adjusted its priorities in light of feedback from Zubiri scholars and interested persons, and the financial realities of the situation in which it finds itself. One of the original members of the Board of Directors, Mr. Joaquin Redondo, resigned and was replaced by Professor Nelson Orringer. Professor Orringer has been instrumental in the success of several of the Foundation’s projects, including the staffing of the Seminario in Brasilia and the XX World Congress sessions. The Foundation wishes to thank Mr. Redondo for his valuable contributions to its founding, and for his continuing work on Zubiri translations.
III. Major Accomplishments and Milestones
During the period from its inception through November, 1998, the Foundation has begun to fulfill its objectives by accomplishing the following goals:
- Creation as a legal entity, a non-profit corporation under the laws of the District of Columbia.
- Granting of tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) charitable status by the IRS.
- Establishment and development of a web site devoted to Zubiri. This is currently by far the largest and most comprehensive Zubiri web site on the Internet. It has over 2000 pages of information in various categories, and is continually being expanded. This has consumed the bulk of the Foundation’s effort, but is proving to be extremely useful, especially insofar as it makes available works published in journals which are difficult or impossible to obtain outside of their country of origin. The resources on the Internet site are organized into 7 categories:
- Zubiri’s life and memorabilia
- Introduction to Zubiri’s philosophy
- Zubiri’s writings and bibliography
- Information and resources for the study of Zubiri
- About the Zubiri Foundation
- Foundation news and happenings
- Contact the Foundation
The writings and bibliography contains the most information, including the texts of several books, numerous articles, and the complete "official" Zubiri bibliography, consisting of Rafael Lazcano’s original compilation, supplemented by the Fundación Xavier Zubiri in Madrid. Articles and books are hyperlinked to the Bibliography. The Foundation wishes to thank Board of Directors member Dr. Jeffrey Mirus for his invaluable help in setting up the Web site, as well as for hosting it gratis on his organization’s server.
- Establishment of a long-term cooperative effort with the Seminario "Redemptoris Mater" in Brasilia to staff courses on Zubiri. Several courses have already been taught at the seminary, including one by Thomas Fowler on Zubiri and causality.
- Facilitation of communication among Zubiri scholars worldwide via the Directory of Zubiri scholars on the Internet site.
- Presentation of papers on Zubiri, and organized a Zubiri colloquium at the XX World Congress of Philosophy, Boston, August 1998. Scholars from the U.S., Mexico, and Spain participated in the colloquium.
- Preparation for imminent publication of the Xavier Zubiri Review, which will be an annual periodical devoted to papers on Zubiri. This year the papers are drawn from those presented at the XX World Congress of Philosophy.
- Establishment of connections with other organizations in order to promote the study of Zubiri. These include other web sites, and the International Academy of Philosophy in Leichtenstein.
- Publication of one doctoral dissertation on Zubiri, Zubiri y la matemática, an important work otherwise difficult or impossible to obtain.
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The Zubiri Colloquium at the XX World Congress of Philosophy, Boston. Left: Foundation President Thomas Fowler. Right: Board of Directors member Nelson Orringer.
IV. Projects Underway
- Translation of several major works, including Inteligencia sentiente, El hombre y Dios, and El problema filosófico de la historia de las religiones.
- Staffing of Brasilia seminary courses.
- Creation of a Zubiri glossary on the Internet site.
- Scanning of Zubiri texts and articles about Zubiri, for addition to the Web site.
- Preparation of papers for the II Congreso Mundial Xavier Zubiri in Madrid, July, 1999.
- Tutoring of interested pupils on Zubiri.
- Establishment of network of persons interested in Zubiri.
V. Goals for 1999
The goals for 1999 include the following:
- Obtaining an ISBN number, for the publication of books originated by the Foundation.
- Raising of additional funds, and possibly funding from a continuing source with interest in Zubiri.
- Listing of the Foundation’s telephone number in the Foundation’s name. (Not currently done to save money).
- Publication of two major translations: Sentient Intelligence, and Man and God.
- Further expansion of web site.
- Completion of Zubiri glossary.
- Establishment of further links with our Internet site, and an entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Creation of an index to the Web site, to facilitate searches. This will require editing of most existing HTML documents on the site to ensure a consistent representation of words with accent marks.
VI. Financial Status
Fund raising has been a difficult problem from the beginning. The president and our legal counsel at the time both felt that there would be little difficulty in obtaining seed money for the Foundation, especially as it was related to Hispanic culture. This did not prove to be the case. Of the foundations contacted to request such seed money, most did not even bother to reply. Advertisements on the web site have brought in no money, and direct mail solicitation is extremely unlikely to be successful either, both because the market is already saturated, and because few in the U.S. have heard of Zubiri. It appears that the Foundation is the type of organization that will have to be funded by a few "angels", whether individual (persons interested in making Zubiri better known in the U.S.) or corporate. At the present time, the Foundation has obtained a copy of the book, Foundation Guide for Religious Grant Seekers, and has ordered a copy of a related book, Catholic Funding Guide: A Directory. These will be searched for possible donors. To date, funds for the Foundation have come almost exclusively from donations by the President.
Brasilia: Foundation President Thomas Fowler, Secretary/Treasurer Maika Fowler, and President Fowler’s class at the Seminario "Redemptoris Mater".
Unfortunately, one of the major goals of the Foundation, granting of scholarships and fellowships to those interested in the study of Zubiri, cannot begin until a reliable source of funding at a fairly high level is achieved. The Foundation will also continue to look for possible individual donors, e.g., wealthy persons of Basque extraction, who would like to see Zubiri become better known. The specific expenditures of the Foundation to date are summarized in Appendix A. Most of the expenses so far have been legal fees to establish the Foundation and obtain the 501(c)(3) status, reimbursement to the President for attending the XX World Congress of Philosophy, and for registering the Internet site address.
The Foundation continues to keep its operating expenses to a bare minimum. It rents no office space, has little in the way of equipment (an answering machine and a fax machine), pays no salaries, and as pointed out earlier, its web site is graciously hosted at no charge by board member Dr. Jeffrey Mirus. Publication of conventional hardbound or softbound books is out of the question at this time; but due to limited demand for Zubiri materials, the Foundation plans to embark on a "publish on demand" program, in which the books, such as the two translations listed above, will be formatted for standard 8 ½ x 11 paper, two columns, and then duplicated and spiral bound at a local copy store when copies are requested. This will keep the per copy cost to around $20, and means that no inventory needs to be maintained. A friend of the Foundation has indicated that he may be able to interest a major university press in publishing a series of Zubiri translations. This would occur some years from now, however, if at all. In the meantime, the publish-on-demand method will continue to be used. Recently the Foundation purchased a fax machine, to ensure reliable fax reception; repeated efforts over the course of the previous 18 months with use of the President’s computer to perform this function resulted in mediocre performance, great time and expense (including purchase of an uninterruptible power supply, and upgrades of the fax software), and numerous glitches.
VII. Financial Summary
To date, contributions and expenditures for the Foundation are as follows:
Total Donations: $4,934.00
Expenditures:
Legal and Official: $3,063.03
Internet registration: $150.00
Office supplies, equipment, postage: $236.12
Travel reimbursement: $1,472.05
Total expenditures: $4,921.20
Cash on hand: $12.80
Officers of the Foundation:
President: Dr. Thomas B. Fowler
Secretary/Treasurer: Dr. Maika Will Fowler
Board of Directors of the Foundation:
Dr. Nelson Orringer, Professor of Spanish Philosophy and Literature, University of Connecticut
Mr. William Marshner, Professor of Theology, Christendom College
Dr. Thomas Fowler, Principal Scientist, Mitretek Systems, and Acting Chair, Department of Physics & Mathematics, Christendom College
Dr. Robert Young, Professor of English, North Carolina State University
Dr. Gary Gurtler, S.J., Professor of Philosophy, Boston College
Dr. Jeffrey Mirus, President, Trinity Communications
Dr. Diego Gracia, Professor of History of Medicine, University of Madrid, and Director of the Fundación Xavier Zubiri, Madrid
Legal Counsel for the Foundation:
Mr. Warren Dean
Thompson Coburn
700 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-508-1000; Fax: 202-508-1010
e-mail: wdean@thompsoncoburn.com
Mr. Dean replaced Mr. Joseph Fletcher, of Dyer, Ellis, and Joseph, in September of 1998 when Mr. Fletcher resigned from his position at Dyer Ellis to take another position. The Foundation wishes to thank Mr. Fletcher for his work to create the it as a legal entity and to secure its tax-exempt status.
This annual report is respectfully submitted by
Thomas B. Fowler, Sc.D.
President
Washington, DC
5 December 1998
Xavier Zubiri Foundation of North America
1571 44th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007 USA
Phone: 1-202-298-0495
Fax: 1-202-338-9084
Email: tfowler@zubiri.org
Internet: www.zubiri.org