Art Libraries Society of
Roosevelt Hotel
ARLIS/NA Finance Committee
Minutes
Present: Jeanne Brown, Carol Graney, Phil Heagy (Chair), Trudy Jacoby, Bonnie James, Allen Townsend, Margaret Webster, Lynda White (Board Liaison)
The meeting was called to order at
1. Review of Committee Charge
The committee was advised to review its charge in Section G10 of the ARLIS Policy Manual.
Charge: An advisory committee to the Executive Board, it ensures that financial policy is observed and reviews policy periodically; monitors amount and placement of reserve funds held in near liquidity; advises on the investment of restricted endowment funds in vehicles that minimize exposure risk on investments; provides advice of a financial nature as requested by the Treasurer and Executive Board.
2. Review of existing investments/performance ; discussion on retaining existing investments and investigating other investment options
ARLIS has two investment funds with Schwab totaling $214,000. Both are in money market funds for liquidity and stability; we receive around $75-100 per month in dividends. We also have cash in Canadian bank money market account. The total balance in investments is $290,000. These funds are tied to our equity, reserve, and restricted funds.
We are now drawing from the Speaker’s Fund. It was suggested that we use cash instead of drawing down the Speaker’s Fund if we can.
We have added $60,000 to our assets in the last two years. Our anticipated deficit for 2004 has been erased by conference income. There have been 71 on-site registrations thus far, 30 of them today, for a total of 750 registrations. This is from a membership of 1,062 or 71% of our members.
Jacoby noted that a money market fund is really a cash instrument and not an investment. The committee agreed that we should look for a 5 star, conservative mutual fund, and move some of the money market funds in to that. We have $50,000 that is not covering equity funds and could be growing for us. White and Webster will investigate fund options including Vanguard (which Schwab does not handle, but which has no load, no 12b1 fees, and very low management fees); and they will look at money market funds other than Schwab that may have more liberal check-writing policies and higher dividend rates. The committee decided to move $50,000 out of the Canadian money market account to mutual funds and to move the remaining funds to the Schwab money market account until we decide whether to go with a new money market carrier. White and Webster will report back via email by mid-May and the committee will decide these issues via email.
3. Preparation of pertinent files of past
Treasurers for submission to Society Archives
Jacoby has sorted the committee files. There are statements dating from 1992. We are required to keep 7 years of records. We are required to keep the creator’s copy of documents. We need guidelines for retaining financial history records; these should be put in the financial records section of the Policies with references from the Archives section.
Action Item: Heagy will contact our auditor and Bonnie James with a list of the types of documents kept by the treasurer. They will advise on the retention schedule for the documents ARLIS must keep.
4. Review of Executive Board action at Pre-Conf
vis-à-vis Section J (Finance) of Policy Manual
The committee reviewed Section J of the ARLIS Policy Manual. Heagy will make the recommended changes and send the draft to Brown. The Board will vote on the changes via email in June.
5. Planned revision of the Financial Information for ARLIS/NA Executive Board Members
document on the AWS.
This task will remain in the treasurer’s duties in the Policy Manual; however, Heagy volunteered to do the current revision.
Recorded by Lynda S. White, Treasurer