Update For Finance – Jul 2024
OIAA Finance Committee
Record of Minutes
Saturday, July 14th, 2024
8:00am – am HDT
11:00am – pm PDT
2:00pm -pm EDT
Attendees :
Felix E. – Alternate Treasurer
Barry M. – Longtime Member Finance Committee
Susan R. – OIAA Chair
Gwen – Finance Committee Member – CDC Chair
Felix takes the lead today and gets all the materials together with the help of Susan and Barry.
Felix introduces himself as the Alternate Treasurer filling in on behalf of Jennifer. Susan introduces herself as the OIAA Chair. Barry introduces himself as the Trustee at Large. Gwen introduces herself as a Finance Committee member as well as the CPC Chair.
Since this is Felix’s first time leading the meeting he asks Susan if they do the preamble or prayers. Susan and Barry answer yes to the Serenity Prayer.
Felix leads the Serenity Prayer. All in Attendance join in.
Review of the Balance Sheet
Felix begins by saying there are three entities to go over. Balance Sheet, Budget and Contributions. He brings up the Balance Sheet on screen. He states that the most notable quarter comparison from March to June 2024 is with the checking account, which is the Expense account. The expense account has $20,000, so total assets have increased by $20,000. He adds that having this puts us in a favorable position to be able to invest in any technological improvements to the website or OIAA related projects. But, only if we all agree to do so.
Felix asks for any questions regarding the Balance Sheet. Barry would like to ask about the $5,500.00 accrual for the 2025 Convention and couldnt find it in the Budget. They would like to make sure it is for the 2025 International Convention. They all look through the documents for it. Felix is unsure if it was moved, but will make sure to find the answer.
Barry states that one of the most notable things that seems to pop out at everyone is the money increase from year to year. He points out that in just a month, OIAA received $16,0000 more dollars than we had last month. Felix agrees that though their income has grown significantly, their expenses have stayed consistently the same. He continues that looking at the year over comparisons, OIAA is at $75,000.00 and last year OIAA was at $28,000.00. Basically, he states, we have tripled in a year. Felix suggests that they should move some of the checking into savings,however, that is how they calculate the prudent reserve. They keep the money in Checking, but in terms of accrued expenses there will be more expenses next year due to lots of new equipment and stuff for the hospitality suite in Vancouver for the convention. Susan does not want us to forget about the pins. They, again, try to pinpoint where the International Convention accrued balance is on the Balance Sheet. They find it on the Balance Sheet for $5,500.00.
They talk about how to move the accrued amount over to its Expense bracket, and why it has not been itemized. It has not made it into its own category as it has not been put into play yet as they have not spent anything yet. Gwen says she remembers Jennifer talking about this in another meeting and states it wouldn’t be logged as an expense yet, but just as accrual. Barry states that he’s pretty sure it is not a problem if they ask Jennifer about it next time.
Felix points out an $800 allocated expense towards Convention and Susan answers that that is for the pins for the 2025 Convention.
No More Feedback
Review of the Budget Variance
They move onto the Budget Variance. Felix shows that there is an increase as well. Income has increased and is over budget for the month by over $2,000.00 and over $8,000.00 year to date. The amount for Individuals has decreased,but it is not much of an issue. Barry points out that a lot has changed since they used to group them together. THey now specify the Individual vs. Their Group. So, some of those Individual contributions changed to Group contributions. This is the outcome of the revision of those donations. Felix agrees that this is the perfect space to identify these contributions as some of the treasurers may have been making the donations when it was actually for their Groups.
Felix looks at the International Convention’s specific expenses. He points out the ones for Tech special workers and Interpreters for The Board and Assembly, the Ig Forum, and the Unity meetings are significantly under Budget. Barry would like to know why they are below their Total Operating Expenses. Felix looks into the projections and asks to see the Conference Expenses.
No Other Feedback
Review of Contributions
Felix brings up the Contributions on screen. Felix asks them to all kindly go through and make sure their own personal groups are listed properly before going down to the final lines. Barry points out the bigger Individual numbers as ranging from $527 and $735
In the Groups, Serenity Circle, being the largest. Barry says that the intergroups across the country would be so proud of these numbers. He believes it shows the terrific support from the people going to meetings.
Susan asks her question about the ASA Online Group. Online Home Group is a banking service that her group has also decided to go with. She would like to know how they give credit to her group. She sees it in the contributions. Susan says that Barry had sent it to her as a flyer and he replies he can talk about that if she would like him to. Susan continues that her group joined this online banking service where you can choose one of 5 or 6 different virtual baskets to contribute to. She likes it as at the end of the month her group could use this service to contribute equally to these entities. She would like to know how her group gets credit if it comes into the system this way. Felix explains that OIAA receives money in three ways : via checks in which the group generally writes the name on the check, second would be from Stripe where the group is allowed to identify itself. And third, it comes from Paypal. We get an email, and if they didn’t put the name of the group and the amount is greater than $50, he will reach out to them and get their group information.
Barry explains that the Online Home Group is a 3rd party service provider that cuts a check and when he was the official mailbox for OIAA, he would get checks from them every month. It would tell which group it was from on the checks. He says that they go to the mailbox in the Carolinas.
Barry explains that every donation is parceled out into its own individual check and sent to OIAA identifying the meeting they came from. Susan asks where on the check the group is identified. Barry points out that it’s at the top right of the check. Susan says she is going to talk to her group and see if this answers all of their questions. Barry suggests that Felix find the individual checks for her group, copy one and send it to her.
She also would like to ask about her homegroup’s position in splitting into two groups. Her online group’s contribution didn’t come in until July, but would want it to be accounted for in June. She asks how they could make sure it’s applied to the right month. Felix answers that he would also like to get some answers and says that this is the first time he has actually heard about a 3rd party service company providing for donations.
Felix tries to understand and repeats out loud, “So, there is a 3rd party who collects funds from multiple different groups and cuts a check and sends it out to us.” He states that the only information he receives from them is a letter stating who to allocate the funds to. He continues that the check looks pretty professional, and that he believes there’s a phone number he can reach out to for more information. He says that he can make sure to allocate the monies for the right entities. Susan thanks Felix and asks Barry if he thinks it’s interesting that it’s out of Delaware? Barry then asks which home group online is based out of Prescott, Arizona? He believes thats where they are based. Barry states that he could see why it would be a benefit for other groups to use this service as it cuts out the need for using the programs to send money, or sign up for accounts. He says that it isn’t free, but it cuts out any issues with sending out donations for some. Susan adds that you can also set up recurring payments with them. Barry and Susan thank Felix for the information.
Felix comes back from an audio issue and states that the easiest way for a contribution to come in is first through Stripe, then Paypal, then lastly checks being the most time consuming. They discuss how many parts of retail establishments and entities have stopped accepting checks as everything is going towards the digital age. He adds that, though they haven’t had to deal with it yet, people could still bounce checks.
No More Feedback
Questions and Feedback
Felix asks if there are any other questions and asks for a motion to close. Barry says there is another question he had about getting additional funding for the International Convention. He would like to discuss how to get a deposit for the pins and additional things needed for the International Convention. He says there are some things that need to be paid against next year’s convention’s budget. He will be sending in another budget request shortly for this.
Susan brings up how the Pins were approved and that Jennifer prepared to pay for them. Susan shares screen and shows that $800 was set aside for the pins and the rest of the payments were in the 2025 Budget. Gwen adds that the deposits on the room suite and those kinds of expenses should be available now so as to not have to go through the same process a second time. She suggests that every year they should allocate the funds that have already been approved by the membership.
Barry says that by using the 2015 Atlanta information they have a good idea on what is needed to set up with a large screen and a small fleet of laptops and most importantly having a dedicated Wireless Connection so as to not rely on the hotel’s internet.
Susan would like to know if that will be enough for the tech expenses as it has been 10 years since they last estimated the costs. She adds that they might need an addition to the Budget. Barry says that he doesn’t know,but he thinks he will be renting equipment instead of buying, so he will be looking into getting those resources and quotes for equipment. He hopes the tech people will help us with those numbers. He adds that 5 years in technology is like 2 generations.
Susan wants to introduce Randy to the Finance Committee as a good source. He would like to be part of the Finance Committee, and he has ideas for setup. Barry declares that Randy will be in charge of that! “Easy, Done.”
Gwen would like to add one more thing before adjourning. She would like to inform everyone of the upcoming service expo that is happening at the end of the month. She noticed that the Finance Committee and CP had been assigned the same breakout room so she would like to invite the Finance Committee members to CPC’s next Committee meeting on the 4th Monday of the month which is at 6:30pm Eastern time or 3:30 pm California time. She will have a dry run-through before the Assembly to finalize everything. She is excited to be working with the FInance Committee and would like to make it fun and to “play in the sandbox beautifully”.
Felix has been taking notes so that he can speak with Jennifer. Felix asks Gwen about the Service expo and whether they should reach out to Gwen or her Alternate to go over ideas. Gwen says that she’s not that invested in the final product since she won’t be there but she would facilitate the conversation. She says she would want to welcome people to the breakout room and wants there to be an attraction great enough to inspire them to come back and contribute on the committees.
EVeryone thanks Felix for leading the meeting and says he did a great job.
Felix asks if there is a motion to adjourn. Gwen agrees.
No Feedback.
Felix Closes with the Responsibility Statement
