Update For Finance – Aug 2024
OIAA Finance Committee
Record of Minutes
Saturday, August 10th, 2024
8:00am – am HDT
11:00am – pm PDT
2:00pm -pm EDT
Attendees :
Jennifer B – OIAA Treasurer
Felix – Alternate Treasurer
Barry – Trustee at Large / Chair of the International Conventions
Sharon – CPC Committee Member
Gwen – CPC Committee Chair
Nicky W. – Finance Committee Secretary
Amanda – Treasurer for Global Group
After the Serenity Prayer, Jennifer hopes those who submitted Budgets attend the meeting. She quickly goes over the Agenda list : List of those in attendance, Approval of Agenda, Approval of Minutes, Review of Financial Reports, and then the Review of the 2025 Budgets. She points out to Gwen that she was added to the list if time allows.
Jennifer introduces herself as the OIAA Treasurer. KD says they are someone who is interested in becoming a member and is available to help in any way . Felix introduces himself as the Alternate Treasurer. Barry is a Journeyman, longtime member of the Finance Committee, Former Secretary and now Trustee at Large and Chair of the International Conventions Committee. Sharon introduces herself as a CPC Committee member and is just here to listen. Gwen introduces herself as the CPC Committee Chair and remembers working with Bear when he was Secretary and she was Chair. Nicky introduces herself as the Secretary of the Finance Committee. Amanda introduces herself as a Treasurer for one of the Global groups and is here to learn.
Review of the Financial Statements
Jennifer busts out the Financial Statements and brings them up on Share Screen. She begins by saying that July was the highest financial month to date and that Contributions equaled $11,700.00. She goes over the expenses : –Organizational fees of $2500, as they had retained a law firm to finalize documents that were needed for OIAA. As in, Whistleblower Retention documents and Conflict of Interest documents.,.etc. She explains that these sorts of documents need to be in place for OIAA.
Paypal and Stripe fees are directly associated with Revenues. She adds that they only charge a percentage of donations. Under Professional Development and Training, two Board Members took part in a Technology Workshop. There was a fee to attend. Professional fees are for the Accounting Systems. Conference Expenses are for a member of the Tech Committee to attend the National Technology’s in-person course in September. She explains that the Tech Special Worker maintains the website and the background work. They also hired another graphics special worker who is making flyers and some other things. She moves onto the IGR Forum where she explains that they had 3 languages at the IGR Forum. She shows the Budget numbers and how they are saving money as the amounts are substantially lower having used Upworks. The Unity meetings have had several different meetings using Portuguese and Spanish, so there are Expenses. Video Conferencing is Zoom and Website Hosting and Management is Google Cloud and other platforms that are used to support the website. Jennifer asks if anyone has any questions about the Budget Variance and states that they had a good month. She says there was a net income of a little over $5,600.00 which will definitely be used in October during the Online Convention.
Jennifer goes onto the Balance Sheet and says that it is quite straightforward. The Total Cash of $137,000. $5,500.00 is earmarked for the 2025 International Convention in Vancouver. She says that OIAA will have a suite to introduce more people and add more global members.. She states that Unearmarked Cash Balance is $131,600.00. She asks if there are any questions or comments on the Balance Sheet. Susan wants to double check that it was $5,500.00 for Vancouver. Jennifer answers that the $5,50000 hasn’t accrued any in 2024 at all. That had all been accrued previously.
On the Contributions Sheet, Jennifer says they had a very robust month! There were 76 different groups that contributed. She adds that this is the most groups yet. Barry wants to share that something caught his eye since there was over $1000 donated. He asks if anyone knows of Stepping Stones Sobriety Inc. and if they are registered with OIAA. He wonders if this is an actual group or a foundation. Barry says that he knows it is a Corporation in Florida (as he did research) and perhaps it’s a Sober House. Jennifer replies that she doesn’t know how to deal with Sober Houses, but she will look into it. Jennifer asks Susan to please put it on the Agenda for tomorrow’s Board Meeting. Jennifer will investigate and at least they can bring something up to the Board.
Barry ends with, “It takes a Village!” Everyone agrees.
NO QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK
Review of the Budget Requests
Moving onto Budgets, Susan is the first one up. She explains to Jennifer that she had modified her Budget due to their talk. She begins by saying that ICOAA is a workshop that at least two members attend. ICOAA is the Intergroup Central Office and is a Networking Organization Workgroup. They have an in-person workshop once a year and OIAA networks within them. She says that so far there have been $2,500.00 in Legal Expenses as they have retained an attorney in the last month. They had been working with Pro Bono, but after 12 months of not hearing anything back, the Board decided to retain an attorney for the legal documents needed. There was $500 in Board Development where 3 members have gone to Pro Bono workshops. Two of the members are going to the NAATW Workshop but were using the Board Development Budgeted Amount. Susan begins by saying that she has an addition to increase the Budget for the IGR Forum and the Assembly Forum. Jennifer says that they will have to talk more at the Board Meeting. Susan continues that she is going to propose a higher Budget for ASL interpreters. Recommended by members, an additional $1,000.00 will be requested as an addition. Jennifer asks about Interpretive Services. Susan proposes 1 for each –Board Meeting and 1 for each –Steering Committee Meeting. She says that there has been allotted some money which they haven’t used. She would like the opportunity to use them if needed. She continues that an Assembly would be in 4 different languages. In such an event that they are longer, they can supply two interpreters per language. There is no Vice-Chair right now, so Susan put in her–Budget for the –IGR Forum for 4 languages.
Barry has a question about the New Jersey Laws concerning hearing disabled people and their access during the event. Interpretation should be available to those with hearing disabilities. He doesn’t know how that coincides with the languages and ASL correlations. However, it states in their laws that during a public event, they will have to provide access for the people who are hard of hearing. His questions would be to the legal team. Jennifer answers that within the current –Budget, ASL is considered one of the languages covered.
For the time being, Susan would like to just have the proposed amount, however, should they hire the certified –ASL Interpreters, this would increase the –Budget by $14,168.00. She explains that for Total interpretive services, one language at $65/hr totals at $7,168.00 for a total Chair Budget of $14,268.00. Jennifer says she has done a lot of research on this and the conversation has not happened yet, so they could just bring one line item back through the Budget Process. Jennifer asks for a motion to Accept the Chair’s Budget request. Gwen moves to Accept and Barry seconds. 6 in Favor and 0 Opposition.
APPROVAL OF OIAA CHAIR’S BUDGET
Finance Committee Budget
Jennifer begins by showing the Budgeted amount of $200.00 per month and says that they will be possibly needing additional services for Account and Recording purposes, which is currently not being serviced out. She says that it is more of a contingency cost in the event that it would be necessary, then it is already in the –Budget. –Dues and Subscriptions are for the traveling mail which currently goes to a location in North Carolina. 99% of donations made in checks that are sent in get scanned then deposited remotely. She put in a $700 annual –Professional Fee. –Accounting Software is $50.00 and there’s $100.00 allotted for tax software which is used for Form 990. Last year it was free, but this year there is more than $100,000, so it will cost this year. Paypal and –Stripe fees based on the 2.3 of our projected contributions. OIAA has also been placed as a Non-Profit, so those expenses, percentage wise, are lower than prior years.
Jennifer has been doing all the scheduling for the Interpreters for the meetings. She believes there is a methodology for employing Interpretation. It is a lot of work scheduling and coordinating the –Interpreters and Jennifer says she’s going to have to supply those needs through hiring a special worker. She had been talking about this to our –International Trustee and –Unity person, when the Trustee said that she’s willing to find a Volunteer for this position. Jennifer is happy about having this as a commitment rather than employing it out. She says that she will continue doing it til the end of 2024. She shares that when she was going to hire a special worker, she’s going to request $4,000.00. Jennifer asks if there are any questions about the –Finance Budget.
Susan has concerns as their last Bookkeeper had to be let go by Jennifer. Jennifer replied that she was untimely and inaccurate. She adds that Felix isn’t that familiar with the tax area. She thinks that would be their biggest worry and need for a –Special Worker, if say, she gets hit by a bus. Jennifer asks for a motion to Accept the –Finance Budget. Felix /moves to Accept the –Finance Budget. Gwen Seconds the Motion. 6 in Favor and 0 Opposed.
APPROVAL OF THE FINANCE BUDGET.
Tech Committee Budget
Mark begins by showing them the information on Video Conferencing as an example and then shows the total number on the Budget Page. He explains that they have 4 Zoom Accounts that are paid up through the rest of the year. It was paid at $50/month. He would also like to Budget in for a possible very large meeting of over 500, just in case. They also need Timers. Gwen remembers the hash browns they used to make out of the leftover baked potatoes. Mark adds that they did not Budget for hash browns this year. $1,832.00 for Total –Conferencing. For –Website and –Hosting and Management, there are two big components and then a bunch of add ons. The components are Google Cloud, where everything was hosted until July 2024 and Siteground was where they have much better support and ease of management. He also describes that those numbers reflect costs going forward as of this month. It took them some time to get everything. He states that the meeting Directory is essentially sitting over on the Google platform. The website is with Siteground. He adds that all those plug-ins are things they added to the website and that they’re licensed pieces of software which adds to the different pieces of functionality. The total –Web Hosting Management line item is $200. He adds that there was some money left in the Budget to register 6 or 7 people for NAATW Conference for virtual participation. He was hoping to “split that out and just plan for it!” Since he is unsure what the registration will cost next year, he thinks $3,000.00 will be good to Budget for that. He moves on to –-Database Maintenance which is a 1 time fee that was also used last year to build the website. He directs them to their Technology Report on their website that they post every month. It shows the Google analytics and by using that, they paid someone to create a business plan. He also adds that every year it should be Revised.
Next, he talks to the –Professional fees as he says he has brought down prices quite a bit. Having a new resource in Carrie has given a good idea on a running rate. He also has a contract with an artist who does a lot of digital graphics arts, so since it is being contracted, it is a resource that’s available to everybody. She’ll make flyers, logos and posters and whatever kinds of stuff you want. She’s $30/hr and they are giving her a limit of 20 hours per month. He moves on to –Other Technology and –Miscellaneous is just that, miscellaneous stuff, just as a contingency. If they need things, just like in Tech Project, it will be there if they need something similar. There is nothing that has been identified as a Project, but if the new changes are pretty good, there will be. They never know what’s going to happen or if they need something else for this group. If they don’t end up using the money, it “goes back.” The Last item is the –Special Project. There is a budgeted $10,000.00 in Special Projects, which they have been working on. They just really got underway earnestly in the last month and in the next few months, they will be presenting a lot of new stuff. The number represents the high end of what he would expect they need based on the number of members. It is a Membership Database. Right now they have them all separated into 3 Directory Categories including International Convention contacts. They would all go into this system and he estimates $7,000 or $11,000 would go into this system. He thinks the $15,000.00 represents this. But this is an example of the services they have been working on. Lastly, he added the –Translation Services for the 4 safety workshops and says that Jennifer calculates having a couple interpreters there each time. He ends by saying that the Budget for 2024 is lower than this one even though it is close. He says he is happy to answer any questions about the –Technology Budget. Everybody thanks Mark for putting so much thought into presenting the Budget. Barry points out that this is a digital enterprise and they have to take care of their Main Asset : the database and the technology. He adds that they have to protect and keep that up to community standards and the Budget reflects that. He is hoping they can pull off at least 80% of what is presented, especially with the terrific work they have performed and with such talented people. He thanks Mark. Gwen also appreciates the detail put in with the Budget Request and was hoping they could look at the plug-ins to see the work they did to arrive at those numbers. She thanks him for the informative work. Jennifer asks for a motion to Accept. Gwen moves for the Motion to Accept the Tech Budget and Barry Seconds that. 5 in Favor and 0 in Opposition.
APPROVAL OF THE TECH BUDGET
Overall Budget Request
Jennifer doesn’t remember how she and Felix came up with the revenue for last year. She believes that with everything in the Budget, last year she proposed $120,000.00 and the expenses ended up at $111,000.00. There were 86 Projected Revenues and as of right now, year to date, OIAA is 25% ahead of Budget. She tells the committee that she and Felix got together the other day and went over the methodology to the proposal for the revenues and this is what they came up with : She brings up the whole year span for 2025. She explains that in the projection for 2024 there would be a 24% increase from December 2023. She wants to point out our current year to date comparative to the Budget. She says she can guarantee a few things that are going to show up. She believes that the October Online Convention is going to blow the revenues up. There will be more memberships after this event and they’re also doing voluntary contributions as opposed to a fee. This will really increase our Contributions.
Mark would like to add that he agrees with Jennifer’s statements and believes all of this is true, however, his gut and his heart doesn’t feel comfortable with that large of a projection of an increased Contribution level. Jennifer understands his position and replies that it might be puzzling to increase 25% given the last year’s projection was 25% and it might seem a little aggressive, but based on analysis on 24 months of growth, the percentage was actually significantly larger. She says they actually went back to reviewing each month over the years as it shows the growth most. She would like to add Felix to the discussion.
Felix begins by saying that they spent a lot of time discussing each one of these months and that they have reviewed seasonality patterns where they have seen significant pick ups and have reviewed the trimester Variance and have included it in the year on year projection. Jennifer had asked Felix to come up with an analysis conclusion which ended up being a base of $160,000. Jennifer was a little uncomfortable with that number. From a familiar point of view, Jennifer came up with a Budget of $113,000.00. She believes this meeting is the perfect place to discuss and assess this.
Barry begins that in his experience since 2017, 2018 and 2019, there was no money. He said that all they had to do was ask for more financial resources, and it came back that they had more than they could use since there was no infrastructure. They didn’t know how to conceive and implement important projects. And now that those are in place he would be more inclined to go with Felix, than Mark and Jennifer’s projections. He has always believed you could tell a Not For Profit’s heart by their Budget. Which, to him, includes being aspirational as much as possible, within their limits. He would like some feedback from the community, but he believes OIAA will need these resources to carry the message. He adds that he would be easily convinced in agreeing to a Budget of $120,000.00. In fact, he’s so inclined that he would even increase that to $125,000.00. He likes the idea of using rigorous analysis and certainly the regression analysis lies with us. He would like to end by saying that this –Budget looks good to him and it shows the community that they could be regular contributors and large contributors from time to time. Barry says he is sure and they are in good shape.
Gwen would like to ask about the –Prudent Reserve. She knows those are based on actual expenses but asks if Jennifer would explain that. Jennifer brings up the –Balance Sheet and explains that in accordance with the guidelines, there are 6 months of Prudent Reserve set aside. She says that basically, she just takes the total amount of the expenses for the next year’s budget. Also within the guidelines, they can retain up to 6 months cash retention. She says that at the end of the year after they vote on the Budget, both will be exactly the same. So, for the start of the year there will be 6 months of Prudent and 6 months of Cash Retention. Everything beyond that, she explains, will be distributed according to the vote at the Assembly. Gwen thanks Jennifer.
Jennifer states that she would like to get a vote by the close of this meeting.
Barry understood that they will take what they spent this year, or six months worth. Jennifer correctively replies that they will take the 2025 budget and that will go into Prudent Reserve. She explains that the Prudent Reserve will just maintain that number for the whole year. Everything else will go into Operating Expenses and then next year in December they will do it all over again.
Jennifer asks for a motion to accept the Budget. Gwent moves. Jennifer Seconds. 5 in favor, 0 opposed.
APPROVAL OF THE BUDGET
Jennifer Closes the Meeting with the Responsibility Statement.
