Concerns
The work that ALA’s members, staff and supporters do on behalf of America’s libraries, library workers and the communities we serve is amazing and transformational. However, whether it’s holding an ALA or division conference, awarding a Spectrum scholarship, coordinating meetings with members of Congress, creating a professional publication, fighting censorship, sharing a professional round table passion, accrediting an LIS program, or offering leadership opportunities, a financially strong ALA is the foundation that makes all of this possible.
Concerns about ALA’s future prompted me to accept the Nominating Committee’s invitation to stand as a candidate:
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As Treasurer I will serve as the membership’s eyes and ears focused on ALA’s finances while helping the Executive Board carry out its fiduciary responsibilities. Since the status quo is not an option for ALA’s financial future, TRUST will be critical as we break down silos, streamline operations, increase accountability and better align ALA’s resources with its strategic priorities.
TRUST will also be critically important as ALA implements a new overhead model in the Operating Agreement with the revenue-generating units. These units as powerhouse profit centers must be able to retain the resources necessary to continue to innovate and respond to the needs of their segments of our membership.
To build TRUST I will follow my core leadership philosophy which can be summed in one simple phrase: “NO SURPRISES.” Ensuring that my communications are clear and timely and respectfully listening to all opinions will be my top priorities. That said, at the end of the day decisions must be made and paralysis by analysis is not an option.
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ALA is the benefactor of many pass-through grants, but as current Treasurer Peter Hepburn recently noted, these grants must be accounted for as revenues in the fiscal year received and then recorded as an expense in the fiscal year the funds are disbursed. This creates distortions in the appearance of surpluses and deficits in the annual financial reports. A clear and simplified supplemental analysis of the standard reports is necessary to help identify areas of the association that are performing well (taking into consideration the two-year cycles of some units) and those that are underperforming or that are intentionally being subsidized.
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While ALA has a healthy endowment of over $64MM, it has been plagued with short-term cash on hand (liquidity) issues critical to make payroll and pay its bills. I remember starting on the Executive Board the summer of the pandemic and witnessing the heroic actions taken by Denise Moritz on the ALA Finance Team to apply for PPP loans and then transfers with terms from the ALA Endowment of $3MM.
While ALA survived the pandemic, current cash on hand is around $2MM but needs to be significantly increased. Further, current ALA Treasurer Peter Hepburn has expressed serious concerns about the remainder of ALA’s current fiscal year which ends August 31.
I support ALA’s CFO Dina Tsordinis’ goal of getting ALA’s cash on hand to 6 months’ of operating but it is an ambitious goal that will take careful planning and fiscal discipline across multiple future ALA treasurers’ tenures to achieve. We must start somewhere.
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I was pleased to learn that ALA will be updating its strategic plan and priorities. The Pivot Plan put into place as an emergency guide by former Executive Director Tracie Hall has served its purpose. Now that we are in a post-pandemic world, it is time to sharpen ALA’s focus and priorities. It is also important for ALA to think in a more holistic manner. New initiatives should only be undertaken if they have been clearly vetted to ensure they both fit within the organization’s strategic initiatives, are financially sustainable, increase the value proposition for members, and are evaluated on a specific schedule to continue, modify or sunset.