Finance Committee Annual Report 2022

submitted by Marci Cohen

Current Roster

  • Katie Buehner, Assistant Fiscal Officer (2023)
  • Marci Cohen, Fiscal Officer (2023)
  • Paula Hickner, Vice-President (2023)
  • Elizabeth Hille Cribbs, Chief Financial Officer (2023)
  • Serena Vaquilar, Assistant Chief Financial Officer (2023)
  • Liza Vick, President (2023)

List of Previous Goals and Progress Made

  1. Support the Strategic Plan by considering fiscal priorities and how they relate to organizational goals.
    • The Finance Committee met virtually May 13-17, 2022, prior to a full Board meeting on May 23. During the meeting, the Committee discussed the proposed annual operating budget and examined ways to balance the budget.
    • Specific issues discussed during the Committee’s spring meeting included:
      • The retention of the Emergency Circumstances membership category.
      • The retention of Dependent Care Vouchers for the annual meeting.
      • Piloting an institutional registration rate for the annual meeting.
      • Funding a paid field study for an MLIS student at the University of Maryland to work on the MLA Archives.
      • Funding an external vendor to provide captioning for conference videos.
    • Membership rates and IAML dues for FY2023 remained the same as the previous year. Exhibitor and advertising rates were increased after remaining unchanged for more than a decade.
    • Honoraria amounts remained at $1,400 for each of the following positions: Chief Financial Officer, Convention Manager, Membership Management Officer, Notes Editor, and Web Manager.
    • The Committee reviewed the approved vendors list and presented it to the Board, who accepted it.
    • The Committee successfully introduced a motion to fund a second Diversity Scholarship using operational funds to supplement available award funds.
    • As part of the budget approval process, the Board approved a convention budget for both a hybrid and a fully-virtual annual meeting to be prepared for contingencies.
    • Working with the Development Officer and CFO, we are creating procedures to allow for the donation of conference registrations separate from our existing travel awards.
    • The Fiscal Policy Handbook was updated as needed.
  2. Continue working toward a balanced budget.
    • The Committee presented a FY2023 budget to the Board at its May 2022 meeting that anticipates a ~$35,000 deficit, which will be fully offset by approved funds from the MLA Fund for FY2023 ($63,000), should this deficit materialize. It should be noted that in recent years (FY2018 through FY2020 and FY2022) the Board has similarly relied on such potential use of the MLA Fund to balance the budget, though in the end, deficits have not materialized, and the MLA Fund has not been tapped. In FY2021, in anticipation of a difficult financial year due to COVID, the Board balanced the budget, even excluding potential use of the MLA Fund. The FY2023 budget was closer to balanced than the FY2022 budget, and unlike FY2022, the projected FY2023 deficit was less than the approved funds from MLA Fund. COVID has made it particularly difficult to make accurate budget projections, but we appear to be turning the corner into greater stability with greater predictability of income and expenses.

List of Future Goals

  1. Support the Strategic Plan by considering fiscal priorities and how they relate to organizational goals.
  2. Given that planned potential deficits and use of the MLA Fund have not been materializing, continue working toward a more balanced budget that doesn’t rely on theoretical supplementation from the MLA Fund, by estimating expenses and anticipating income more precisely for FY2024.