Art
Libraries Society of North America 31st Annual Conference
Wyndham Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland - March 20-26, 2003
March
21, 2003
Attendance: Chair: Gregory Most, Board Liaison: Phil Heagy, Members: Ted Goodman, Milan Hughston, Merrill Smith, Marilyn Berger, President: Daniel Starr, Incoming President-Elect: Jeanne Brown, ARLIS/NA Executive Director: Elizabeth Clarke, Administrator: Vicky Roper (absent: John Hagood, Kim Collins)
Gregory Most called
the meeting to order at 4:10 pm and thanked departing members Stephanie Frontz
and Deborah Barlow Smedstead and then welcomed new members Milan Hughston and
Kim Collins to the committee.
The concept of
establish charitable status for the Society in Canada has been abandoned
following legal advice from a professor at the McGill University School of Law.
The Chair thanked Marilyn Berger for her research into this matter.
The goal of reaching
$35,000 in conference fundraising was not met, but considering the sluggish
economy and caution of sponsors in general, a very respectable $29,550 was
raised. The Chair thanked the Committee and the President for their hard work.
Committee members were reminded to send their updated sponsor prospectus to the
Chair so the 2004 prospectus can be prepared.
The response from the
membership to the founding of an annual giving organization has been very
positive. The new group, known as the Society Circle, has had a very successful
inaugural year. Over $6,200.00 was raised and twenty-eight members joined the
Circle, two members at the Founder’s Circle level, three at the President’s
Circle level, and four at the Patron level. A list of members will be published
in the handbook.
The majority of the
donations to the Society Circle (about 60%) are made with no designation to
established funds. The Chair asked whether it might be a good idea if the funds
were designated towards a specific project or product. At this time, the
donations are placed into the reserve fund that goes toward the operation of the
Society. It was discussed whether
tangible benefits from the unrestricted Society Circle funds will need to be
seen by the membership to encourage and sustain donations. Given the relative
youth of the group, President Starr suggested keeping the funds as is instead of
designating them to a particular purpose. Mr.
Most and the Committee agreed to this proposal and that the Committee will
monitor donations for the next two years to see how this arrangement functions
before making a final decision.
A brochure/card for the Society Circle will be printed this year and mailed out at a different time than membership renewals. Treasurer Phil Heagy said that funds could be found to pay for the printing and mailing. Mr. Starr suggested sending this out as soon as possible and to do it in a more targeted way. Mr. Most asked that committee members thank those Society Circle members at the conference for their contributions.
Given the difficult
past year for fundraising and a potential similar situation this year, Ms.
Berger suggested “hitting-up” the sponsors earlier in the year.
Mr. Most related a response from a vendor/exhibitor who said they would
have been happy to contribute if they had been contacted earlier, but their
budget cycle begins in the fall and the January proposal could not be
accommodated. Mr. Most will begin
revising the sponsor prospectus as Committee members send their updated lists to
him. He will then send it to the committee this summer. He stressed again the
importance of making initial contact right away and to follow up solicitation
with telephone calls and e-mail messages.
Mr. Starr stated that funds for the awards need to be solicited and received before applications are sent out and are commended. Gregory Most suggested that anybody other than the Development Committee soliciting funds for the conference should let the Development Committee know.
Mr. Most stated that
the Society Circle page on the ARLIS web site (AWS) should be re-designed to
provide more information and help encourage donations. President Starr stated
that the Board has established a website advisory task force to look into AWS
issues and are to report to the Board by mid-year.
The Chair discussed the concept of establishing an annual giving group for our business affiliates. Elizabeth Clarke reported that a marketing/promotion plan was presented to the Board last year regarding opportunities of raising funds for the Society. This plan analyzed the returns over three years in advertising, conference, exhibitors, etc. and ways to bundle all these factors together into one package and consequently then only one solicitation and one check. The ramifications of a business group affect conference planning, advertising, and other areas of the organization and will need to be examined with care.
Mr. Starr suggested that a decision needs to be made as to the different levels of categories and will speak with exhibitors at the conference to see how they would react to this concept.
Institutional Support
Mr. Most called the
Committee’s attention to a lapse in established fundraising for the Society.
In the past a small number of museum and university libraries made contributions
above their institutional membership and were listed in the Handbook as
“Sustaining Institution Members.” This practice seems to have lapsed during
a transition to one of the management companies. Mr.Heagy said that this has
been corrected. Mr. Most suggested that some type of structure be given to this
group where less well-funded institutions could still make a contribution while
larger organizations could make a more sizable donation. Mr. Most will prepare a
proposal and will distribute it to the committee via DevCom-L.
Adjournment
The Chair adjourned
the meeting at 5:10 pm.
Action
Items
Chair:
Prepare Circle card for printing, write proposal for institutional support,
revise sponsor prospectus
Committee:
Send revised 2003 sponsor prospectus to Chair for inclusion in 2004 edition,
review ARLIS/NA Strategic Plan vis-à-vis DevCom
Board: Revise Circle/DevCom page on AWS; discuss business affiliate group
Submitted by
Vicky Roper
ARLIS/NA Administrator