STC’s New Normal, How It Affects STC Phoenix
by Karen L. Zorn, STC Phoenix President
At the June 2009 membership meeting, Tom Barnett, Bylaws, and Karen Zorn, President, talked about the 2009 STC Summit Leadership Day financial news, an anticipated $400K shortfall for 2009, $1.2 million for 2010. Many members at the meeting asked what it meant for them and the Phoenix Chapter. At that time I didn’t know; now I have some, not all, answers. (And these answers are subject to change depending on what happens at STC HQ.) What’s happened since June:
- CMAC was required to prepare and submit a short 2009 budget (September through December) and a 2010 budget anticipating income and expenditures without including a member pass through ($25/member) that we’ve received in previous years. These budgets were submitted to STC International for review. (Remember, although funds are held in Phoenix’s treasury, the actually do belong to STC International.)
- After budget review, we were asked to send$255 from our Treasury to STC International to help make up the shortfall. Shelly Duncan promptly wrote the check and sent it off. (This effectively zeros out our bank balance at the end of 2010.)
- Membership dues increased. I’ve talked about that in other blog posts and solicit comments from the community. (BTW, I can’t do anything about it, but I’ll listen.)
The budget we prepared is what is known as a zero-based budget. In other words, you take a look at what you’d like to offer your members for the upcoming year, figure out the income and expense and make it zero out (balance). As with the SIGs, any funds needed beyond your income estimates will be funded (after thorough review) by STC International. In the past, Phoenix has been a self-supporting chapter. Previous CMACs planned and executed surplus generating activities such as Publication, Art, and Online competitions, workshops, and regional conferences. Expenditures have kept to a reasonable amount and scrutinized for their value to Phoenix members.
What does this mean to you as a Phoenix chapter member? Frankly, most of this will not affect what Phoenix offers its members, other than that to remain a member of the Phoenix chapter, you need to pay the chapter membership fee of $25 in addition to your general membership dues to STC International. If you are contemplating running for elected office, you must be a member of the chapter. CMAC will be reviewing our program fees to adjust for STC member (not Phoenix) and non-members. In the future (2011) we hope to be able to hold on to any surplus funds generated from chapter activities.
What it does affect are the programs that we offer our membership. There are no workshops/educational events, competitions, or conferences (whew!) planned for the remainder of 2009 and all of 2010. We are still bringing you interesting and valuable programs with well known presenters. These folks aren’t paid to present, but we do cover their airfare and provide a housing per diem. When we can, we try to coordinate with Southern Arizona to maximize the bang for the buck.
NOTE: Do be advised that the chapter (SIG) fee will not be sent to the Chapter (SIG). Chapter fees are destined to be held by International to support future chapter activities.
Comments?
Karen L. Zorn, President STC Phoenix