American Czech and Slovak Association
The American Czech and Slovak Association, ACSA, was a Washington, DC-based, leading,[1] national, Czech and Slovak Republic-focused non-profit organization registered in 1990 in Delaware [2] with a mission to "facilitate bilateral U.S. - Czech and Slovak cooperation in various areas of human endeavor and to assist the new democracy and free market reform." Unlike other organizations, it was not primarily a diaspora and ethnic-based organization but it brought together individual Americans and American private and public sectors organizations sharing interest in bilateral cooperation and supporting the post-Velvet Revolution era development in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The organization was founded on February 2, 1990, in Washington, DC at a founding meeting of about 75 members of the public held at the Georgetown Public Library.
A resolution adopted at the founding meeting directed elected officers to establish the following Committees as the primary instruments for implementation of the organization's Mission: Cultural Affairs, Business and Trade, Governmental Affairs, Teachers of English, Environment and Health, Education, Public Relations, and ACSA Merit Awards.
On annual basis, the ACSA provided financial and in-kind assistance to democracy, free market reform, charitable and humanitarian efforts in the Czech and Slovak Republic of up to $2 million a year.
One of the co-founders and subsequent Vice President and Chairman of the ACSA Government Relations Committee was Oliver Gunovsky.[3]
Between 1992 and 1997, i.e. until its conversion into the AFoCR, American Friends of the Czech Republic,[4] a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, ACSA and its president were institutional and individual members of the Washington, DC - based American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).