Community Finances: Sustainable Programming

1. Community Finances:Sustainable Programming Aiessa Moyna, Treasurer, STC Board of Directors Greg Larsen, Chief Financial Officer, STC Cindy Pao, Treasurer, Instructional Design & Learning SIG Timothy Esposito, Treasurer, Philadelphia Metro Chapter

2. Agenda • Session Objectives • Sustainable Programming • Panel Discussion • Q&A • Contacts

3. Session Objectives • Understand “sustainable programming” • Understand why sustainability is important • Learn how two communities are delivering sustainable programs • Get answers to your questions • Understand resources available

4. Sustainable Programming

5. What Is Sustainable Programming? • Acquiring and using resources now, while ensuring resources for the future

6. Why Is Sustainability Important? • Drive value for members • Reduce reliance on a single source of revenue • Maintain reserves • Ensure flexibility • Ensure long-term viability

7. We’re Not There Yet … • Consider the benefit to your members • Consider your community’s priorities

8. How Do We Get There? • Increase/diversify revenue • Reduce expense

9. Panel Discussion:Creating Sustainability through Webinars Cindy Pao, Treasurer, Instructional Design & Learning SIG

10. Cindy Pao • Treasurer, IDL SIG • Former President, Houston Chapter • Member, Community Budget Review Committee

11. Sustainability for a SIG • In addition to funding from HQ, IDL SIG offers webinars four times per year: • Registration fees: $20 for IDL SIG members; $30 for STC members; $50 for not-yet-members • Max registration in 2011 was 37; min was 14 • Now accepting donations through our website and PayPal • Major expenses around Summit each year; smaller expenses for newsletter and scholarships

12. Panel Discussion:Taking a New Approach to Programs Timothy Esposito, Treasurer, Philadelphia Metro Chapter

13. Timothy Esposito • Treasurer, Philadelphia Metro Chapter • Former Chapter Scholarship Program Manager • Member, Community Budget Review Committee

14. Where We Came From: Membership • In 2008: 260 members • In 2011: 135 members

15. Where We Came From: Monthly Meetings • Fancy. Hotel conference rooms. Full-service meals. • Honorariums varied: • Sometimes $25 Amazon gift cards • Sometimes nothing

16. Where We Came From:Annual Chapter Conference & Workshop • Very expensive and always at a loss. • Honorariums very high: $800 to $1100 for a single speaker. • Facility costs high with college conference center and outside caterer. • Over $7000 in food and facility costs in a single day in 2007. • Uncertain of attendance then, but estimate at $50/person for food and facility.

17. Where We Came From • Old cost models not working with lower attendance. • Caveats: • The attendance rates were higher, raising expenditures and income alike. • Well-known, expensive keynote speakers attract larger audiences.

18. The New Plan: Monthly Meetings • Moved away from hotels to low-cost public meeting spaces such as: • Libraries • Local universities • Community center meeting rooms

19. The New Plan: Monthly Meetings • Food Offerings Changed • No more full-service meals • Pizza, salad, hoagies, sandwiches, chips, bottle water, cookies trays, etc.

20. The New Plan: Monthly Meetings • Standardized Cost Structure • $15/$20/$25 breakdown for chapter members/STC members/non-members • Honorarium changed to a chapter certificate of appreciation and free meeting attendance

21. The New Plan: Conference & Workshop • Location shifted from Penn State conference center to a local community center owned by a supermarket • An incredible find: a professional space that is free to use by the community • Only cost is the food and drink consumed, catered by the supermarket that owns the building. • Cost was $445 for a 1 day conference of about 50 people. ~$9/person for breakfast, lunch, and all-day refreshments.

22. General Practices: Quicken • Use budget categories that match the ones in the STC budget report • Use tags to indicate which event payment is for, rather than budget categories • For example, use the tag “April Meeting” and the budget categories of “Meeting: Member attendees” and “Meeting: Non-member Attendees”

23. General Practices: Meeting Registration • Use PayPal for meeting registration fees • Use Eventbrite, with PayPal, to handle meeting registration • Use SquareUp.com to process credit cards at events, via smart phones

24. General Practices: Banking • Use checking account with non-profit status and no fees. Shop around. • Use bank debit cards (Pres., VP, and Treasurer) to make chapter purchases • No need to reimburse • Require receipts regardless

25. Questions & Answers

26. Contacts

27. Contacts • Greg Larsen, Chief Financial Officer greg.larsen@stc.org • Aiessa Moyna, Treasurer aiessa.m.moyna@aexp.com or amoyna@juno.com STC _Treasurers discussion list • Cindy Pao, Instructional Design & Learning SIG treasurer@stcidlsig.org • Timothy Esposito, Philadelphia Metro Chapter treasurer@stcpmc.org • Steve Skojec, Director of Community Relations steve.skojec@stc.org • Tricia Spayer, STC Director/CAC Chair tspayer@pressco.com • Board of Directors board@stc.org

28. Thank you!