Conference Call Minutes - May 2010
May 2010 Board of Directors Meeting
May 13, 2010 - Noon (Eastern)
May 13, 2010 - Noon (Eastern)
Minutes
- Welcome (Anne Caputo)
President Anne Caputo called the meeting to order at 12 pm ET. - Roll call (Ty Webb)
Present: Board members Caputo, Romaine, Trefethen, Wolfish, Blankson-Hemans, Bates, Rink, Hunt, Webb, Lee, Seaberry, Lachance; Staff members Broussard, Kenner, Joseph; Candidates Mai, Stern, Manasco, de Stricker, Brown, Huffine, Hurst-Wahl, Jain
Absent: Board members Zamora, Fifer Canby, Sweeney; Candidates Hart, Tompson - Minutes from previous month Board call (All)
Approved as posted - Finance Committee Update (Dan Trefethen)
Treasurer Trefethen reported that the trend continues that we are not receiving revenues as expected. At this date, conference registrations should be close to 3000, but in actuality, are at 2200. This means a shortfall of $400,000. Registration for the virtual conference has opened and if those numbers are not high enough to support the offer, it will be terminated. Staff has cut approximately $125,000 in conference expenses thus far. The association has also experienced a significant loss in membership renewals amounting to a 5% decrease from last year. More and more members are renewing at the lower rate. The projection is for a shortfall of about $300k. Advertisement revenues are also down. Staff has made adjustments, but the decreases are difficult to overcome and the current projection is for a shortage of close to $600k. SLA will be a $5 million organization rather than one of $5.5 million. The organization will stand down on discretionary expenses such as travel, and there will not be any additional research award allocations. The Finance committee has been asked to generate ideas for revenue. Those ideas have been submitted to the staff for their review. After that is completed, documents will be sent to the Board for their information and for discussion during our June meetings.
The margin loan process is in place. It has become obvious that we would not be able to pay off a loan in the short term due to the amount of interest (estimated at $30k on a $500k loan), so Trefethen suggested that we consider liquidating some assets rather than borrowing. The downside is the liquidation of some assets, but they are only earning 2-3% interest on very conservative investments.
Treasurer Trefethen moved that the board empower the CEO to liquidate sufficient assets from the Grants and Awards Fund to meet the projected deficit from the 2010 budget. The motion was seconded and discussion followed.
Janice Lachance wants to see allotments distributed to the units before the conference, which means either drawing down on investments, or using the margin loan. Deb Hunt questioned the percentage of the fund that would have to be used. The answer was that the fund currently has a balance of $1.4 million. Anne Caputo asked what the short-term need was, and the answer was for allotments and for conference-related expenses, primarily deposits, which together will amount to several hundred thousand dollars. Nettie Seaberry asked if the association has plans for a membership campaign and the response was that the staff has scaled way back so there would be no membership renewal push at this time. Problems with the database need to be addressed, probably by bringing in a temporary person to manage the database. Liz Blankson-Hemans asked about the likelihood that we will make good on membership numbers and conference registrations for next year in order to pay back either the loan or the draw down. Janice Lachance reminded the Board that the three primary sources of income for the association are membership dues, the annual conference and sponsorships. She asked the question, "Why keep having conferences if we lose money on them?" She encourages the Board to recognize the need to recreate the association. Ruth Wolfish asked if other associations are experiencing similar losses and the response was that ASAE is experiencing lower membership renewals, and a trend toward paying a non-member rate for ala carte services. Generally, drops in membership seem to be a shared experience while the difference seems to be in conference attendance - SLA's is lower, and others are higher. We're not far off except for the conference trend. Ruth Wolfish stated that we need to inform our membership. Cindy Romaine asked how would asset usage affect the margin loan and Lachance replied that we would use one or the other. Cindy Romaine also asked if the $100k allocated for the alignment roll out been used? The answer was no, that we will fund a way to get member input on the mission/vision statements.
The motion was approved unanimously.
Treasurer Trefethen also reported that the annual audit is in process and will be reviewed by the staff and the finance committee. He hopes to have it for the Board at the June meetings. - Executive Session Item
- Strategic Planning Initiative (Cindy/Anne)
President Anne Caputo announced that the Board will be working on the Strategic Plan during the Executive Session Board meeting on Friday, June11, 2010. The Board members have been assigned to three teams for preliminary work before that meeting. Documentation will be distributed the week of May 17. Each team will have multiple topics to cover. The broad subject areas and Board assignments are: (1) Membership - Cindy Romaine, Nettie Seaberry, Susan Fifer Canby, Ty Webb, Tom Rink; (2) Communication - Gloria Zamora, Ruth Wolfish, Liz Blankson-Hemans, Mary Ellen Bates, Janice Lachance; (3) Structure and Conference - Anne Caputo, Daniel Trefethen, Daniel Lee, Deb Hunt, Ann Sweeney. - Committees and Committee Liaisons (Anne/Ty)
Ty Webb will be sending a list of committee liaisons to the Board members. - Visits (Anne Caputo, Cindy Romaine, and Janice Lachance)
Trip reports were postponed. - New business
Executive Session Item (Tom Rink/Mary Ellen Bates)
Division Annual Business Meetings (Tom Rink)
Update from Division Structure Task Force (Tom Rink)
Due to time constraints, Tom Rink offered to communicate information about these topics to the Board through email messages. - In closing, Anne Caputo reminded the candidates to sign the confidentiality forms. The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 pm ET.
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