Annual Report (2004)
Submitted by: Lynda S. White
434-924-3240
February 28, 2005
Leadership Update: Lynda White took over as treasurer from Phil Heagy on April 19, 2004
Meetings Attended:
Annual ARLIS/NA Annual Meeting, New York, April 14-22, 2004 (including Pre-Conference and Post-Conference ARLIS/NA Executive Board meetings)
Conference Planning Advisory Committee (CPAC), Houston, June 17-18, 2004
ARLIS/NA Mid-Year Executive Board Meeting; Calgary, July 24-28, 2004
Activities:
§ Participated in training for treasurer’s duties and procedures with previous Treasurer, Phil Heagy in Houston, March 5-8, 2004.
§ Gratefully accepted Heagy’s recently written Treasurer’s Manual. I am adding to this document as issues arise, including a timeline for the treasurer’s duties.
§ New York Motion 4: That the Board recognize the seating of new Executive Board on 19 April 2004, and authorize the changing of financial account signatories on all ARLIS/NA accounts; approved. Signatories were changed for the Schwab account.
§ New York Motion 5: That surplus operating funds from 2003 be moved to the Reserve Fund; approved and implemented.
§ New York Action 8: White will need to make sure, if required, that the chapters are in compliance with IRS reporting requirements by gathering financial statements. With assistance of regional representatives, gathered financial data from all chapters. As ARLIS/NA has a group exemption from the IRS, it is not necessary to report chapter finances to the IRS.
§ New York Action 18: White, Keeran, Roper, and Webster have been assigned responsibility to look into the membership database to determine what information to request for member profiles and to address issues surrounding renewals in order to prepare a preliminary report for the Executive Board. Worked with headquarters, membership committee, and membership database task force (named above) to clarify database and normalize data fields in all related documents. Revised membership form, membership statistics form, chart of accounts, budget, etc. to reflect new membership categories and to be consistent among all documents with the expectation that this will make clearer where payments should be recorded and will aid understanding the data. We also reviewed data entry procedures with an eye towards streamlining production of the ARLIS/NA Handbook. Handed off to Website Revision Committee responsibility for adding functionality to online membership directory.
§ New York Action 35: White will check to see if ARTstor is citing ARLIS participation. ARTstor is not.
§ Wrote minutes for 2004 Finance Committee meeting in New York and submitted to documents editor.
§ Collected requests for special funding from chapters, DSRTs, and committees.
§ Simplified and added functionality to publication inventory spreadsheet.
§ Worked with CPAC local arrangements co-chair to finalize Houston conference budget.
§
Calgary Motion 9: That Section J (Finance) of
the ARLIS/NA Policy Manual be revised as recommended by the Finance
Committee; approved.
§ Calgary Action 22: White will set up an index fund investment with the funds now in the Money Market. Investment account was established with Vanguard after consulting with Finance Committee chair. The Schwab account is not yet closed. When the proceeds of that account are moved to Vanguard, the Treasurer will move the funds into the approved investments.
§ Calgary Action 23: White will send the revised section J to the website. Section J of policy has been updated on the website.
§ Calgary Action 37: White will put together a budget estimate to send Clarke to either ALA Midwinter in Boston or ALA annual meeting in Chicago and bring appropriate materials for display and distribution. Contacted ALA about costs for an exhibit booth and developed estimate of cost to send E. Clarke to the Chicago or Boston conferences. With President, decided not to pursue this plan at this time.
§ Calgary Action 45: White and Frechette will revise and expand the guidelines for Special Funding Requests for divisions, chapters, committees and roundtables and incorporate a model application. With Suzy Frechette, revised guidelines for Special Funding and sent them to the Board for discussion.
§ Calgary Action 46: Treasurer will post on ARLIS-L which special funding requests have been approved after the requestors have been informed. Informed requestors of decisions and posted requests approved for FY2005 on ARLIS-L.
§ Calgary Action 47: White will ask Development Committee to remove from Society Circle literature and wherever else it appears any reference to the Speaker’s Fund being an endowment fund. Completed.
§ Calgary Motion 16: That the Treasurer’s Duties section of the Policy Manual be revised as proposed by Lynda White; approved .
§ Calgary Action 41: White will forward the revised language for the Treasurer’s duties to the web editor for the Policy Manual. Revised language for Treasurer’s duties listed in the Policy Manual was sent to the web editor.
§ Calgary Motion 17: That the Board approve of taking money out of the reserve fund to fund the website redesign; approved. The funds have been expended.
§ Calgary Motion 18: That the Board approve the ARLIS/NA 2005 budget as amended; approved. The treasurer prepared and proposed the budget for 2005.
§ Worked with the Treasurer of the Visual Resources Association to finalize the financial statement for the 2004 Summer Educational Institute. We also devised a procedure for managing the SEI budget and reporting process, and for maintaining lines of communication, in future years.
§ Determined costs per member for ARLIS/NA publications.
§ Reviewed drafts of FY2004 audit report from Mills, Rouse, and Company.
§ Sent various financial reports to the Board and the Finance Committee Chair each month, including an updated budget spreadsheet.
§ Verified coding of the check run each month; signed and mailed checks.
§ With financial manager, revised chart of accounts to streamline the document and to eliminate duplication of lines; added explanations to lines where the heading was insufficient to explain what the line is used for. This required similar revision of the FY2005 budget and income statements. We hope that this will reduce confusion and errors in coding our revenues and expenses.
§ It appears that the Society had a very healthy financial year. The success of the New York conference (+ ca. $41,000) contributed greatly to ARLIS/NA’s bottom line as did the success of the Summer Educational Institute (+$7,190). The planned deficit for FY2004 was erased by the influx of funds from these sources.
§ I am grateful to both Phil Heagy and Bonnie James for their invaluable assistance in my learning the treasurer’s duties. Figuring out the intricacies of the budget and chart of accounts have consumed much of this first year of my term as treasurer.
Plans:
§ Update final FY2004 budget and post to the website
§ Revise special funding documents in accordance with decision of the Board at the 2005 pre-conference meeting
§ Manage special funding request process in late summer
§ Prepare FY2006 budget
o Request budget needs from committee chairs
§ Work with Finance Committee Chair to revise the Financial Information for ARLIS/NA Executive Board Members document on the website.
§ Complete transfer of funds from Schwab to Vanguard and invest according to Finance Committee and Board directions.
Issues for the Board:
§ Complete special funding discussion and decide what kinds of expenses ARLIS/NA will fund for chapters, divisions, sections, and roundtables.
§ Approve new Board officers as signatories on the Vanguard account.
§ Move surplus operating funds for FY2004 to the reserve fund.