Annual Report (2002)
ARLIS/NA Treasurer

26 January, 2003

Submitted by Phil Heagy (Treasurer, ARLIS/NA)
pheagy@menil.org
Phone:  713-525-9426
Fax:  713-525-9444

The Treasurer is completing the first year of a two-year term.

MEETINGS ATTENDED:

Initial Treasurer training meeting with Trudy Jacoby, outgoing Treasurer; Hartford, 6-7 January 2002

Annual ARLIS/NA Annual Meeting, Saint Louis, 20-26 March 2002 (including Pre-Conference and Post-Conference ARLIS/NA Executive Board meetings)

Conference Planning Advisory Committee (CPAC), Baltimore, 7-8 June 2002

Preliminary meeting with Visual Resources Assn  Board members Mark Pompelia, John Taormina, and Ann Thomas to discuss proposed budget for the ARLIS/NA Joint Task Force on Continuing Education’s “Summer Institute in Management of Visual Resource Collections” (planned for Summer 2004); 19 July 2002

ARLIS/NA Mid-Year Executive Board Meeting; New York City, 10-11 August 2002

ACTIVITIES NARRATIVE / GENERAL COMMENTS:

In the third year of the Society’s relationship with Clarke Management Services (CMS), this Treasurer finds the Executive Director’s office a very efficient, professional and pleasant partner in sustaining and advancing societal financial operations and goals.  Recurrent procedures such as the monthly check run, issuance of monthly Society financial reports, submission of U.S. Internal Revenue Service forms and payments (1099/96; Exempt Organization tax returns, etc.) are coordinated smoothly among CMS, our auditors (Mills, Rouse and Company) and the Treasurer.  The Treasurer has obtained Tax Deposit Coupon Books which should further smooth our tax return procedures.

The reconstituted ARLIS/NA Finance Committee, chaired by the Past-Treasurer with the Treasurer as Board liaison, held its inaugural meeting at the Saint Louis Conference.  A major decision resulted in the transfer of $100,000 USD from the ARLIS/NA bank account into the Society’s investment account with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., with the above sum allocated as the initial balance of the newly-created Reserve Fund (a member of the Restricted Funds family of ARLIS/NA assets).  The Reserve Fund goal is to provide an emergency revenue source equal to a minimum of 50% of annual ARLIS/NA operating expenses.  Despite the continuing poor economic climate, our investments  have made steady if unspectacular gains throughout the year, thanks to timely decisions of the ex-Treasurer and her fellow Board members prior to the present Treasurer’s tenure.

The Treasurer and Past-Treasurer are completing a thorough revision of Section J of the ARLIS/NA Policy Manual (“Finances”).  The undertaking of this project has revealed an acute need to also overhaul the “Financial Information for ARLIS/NA Executive Board Members” section of the Society’s website.

The Treasurer, utilizing societal financial statistics from 1999 through 2001, produced a July 2002 report to the Executive Board entitled “What Does it Cost ARLIS/NA to Maintain a Member?”  Substituting predicted 2003 financial results for the above time period, the thus-modified report will provide a basis for the upcoming recommendations of the ARLIS/NA Task Force on Membership Dues Structure, of which this Treasurer is a member.

With the prospect of a dues revision in mind, the 2003 ARLIS/NA Operating Budget (approved at the August 2002 Mid-Year Executive Board Meeting) was predicated upon a particular concern for statistical realism.  While not abandoning the prevailing philosophy of “budgeting expenses high and revenues low,” an attempt was decidedly made to predict financial results as accurately as possible, with the best interests of the Membership (vis-à-vis dues obligations) uppermost in Board members’ minds.

At the above Mid-Year Meeting several changes to the “Restricted Funds” asset family were approved and subsequently effected by the Treasurer and ARLIS/NA Headquarters:

The Publications Restricted Fund was dissolved and its balance transferred to the Conference Speakers Fund, for the moment fully capitalizing the latter and enabling a possible inaugural use of fund monies to defray some speaker expenses of the upcoming 2003 ARLIS/NA Conference.

The 25th Anniversary Fund has been re-named the Travel Grant Fund.

The Research Fund will be re-named the ARLIS/NA Internship Fund, pending any final requirements of the Research Committee.

Another satisfying  (to this Treasurer) financial outcome of the Mid-Year meeting is the increased economic support to be given to Board members, including waiving of conference registration fees and partial funding of hotel room charges (both of which apply also to incoming Board members).

As part of the Past-President’s overall project to revise the Conference Planning Manual, the Treasurer submitted suggested changes to the "ARLIS/NA Treasurer Role" section of the revised manual.  The Treasurer has good lines of communication established with the 2003 Annual Conference budget planners and regularly receives updated copies of the conference budget.  A 2003 Conference Fundraising Guide has been issued by the Chair of the ARLIS/NA Development Committee.

Fortunately, the Chair of the Development Committee is very pro-active and, along with committee members, quite capable of initiating and following through with development projects without a high level of liaison contribution from this Treasurer.  In addition to the fundraising guide cited in the previous paragraph, the Committee has issued an updated Prospects List for 2003; assisted in the revamping of the ARLIS/NA Membership Form; initiated the Society Circle fundraising  concept; and is actively assisting fundraising efforts for the upcoming 2003 ARLIS/NA Annual Conference.

The publication of the Society’s Update is now largely web-based, with members paying an additional fee for a paper copy.  Despite these cost savings to the Society, the expenditures for the publications program must continue to be carefully monitored.

Future goals of this Treasurer include the above-mentioned revision of the  “Financial Information for ARLIS/NA Executive Board Members” document; the re-organization of past Treasurer files with an eye toward selective  discarding (in consultation with Headquarters and our auditors); and the compilation of an informal Treasurer’s training manual.

The Treasurer would like to thank the staff of ARLIS/NA Headquarters, particularly Bonnie James, for patience in answering questions and diligence in discharging the financial responsibilities of the Society.  Special thanks are also due to the President, Past President and Past-Treasurer of the Society for assisting this Treasurer in understanding the overall workings of a complex organization operating in difficult financial times.