|
The
American Schools of Oriental Research |
PRESENT: Nan Frederick, Edward Gilbert,
P.E. MacAllister, Chairman, Eric Meyers, Tom Schaub, Vice-President, Joe Seger,
President, Jim Strange, Secretary, Gerald Vincent, Ingrid Wood, Doug Clark,
CAMP, David McCreery, CAP, Rudy Dornemann, Executive Director, Holly Andrews,
Assistant Director, Billie Jean Collins, Director of Publications.
ABSENT: Al Leonard, Jr., Dick Scheuer.
VISITORS: Larry Geraty
- CTO 8:10 AM—P.E. MacAllister.
- Approval of Minutes of September
9, 2001 Executive Committee Meeting—J Strange. CORRECTION: Dave McCreery
was present.
RESOLVED, that the minutes of the September 9, 2001 Executive Committee Meeting be accepted as corrected. PASSED unanimously.
- Report from the President—J. Seger, distributed.
- Financial Reports—R. Dornemann.
Rudy commented that Gerald Vincent has been invaluable in the process of working
with the auditors. Ingrid Wood directed the EC to the draft Audit, and specifically
the “Statements of Financial Position” (distributed) which compare FY 2001
and FY 2000. Ingrid noted that the Accounts Receivable category is very high
at 31%, mostly due to pledges not yet fulfilled. According to the “Notes to
Financial Statements” (p. 9 of the audit), the figure of $336,287 for total
contributions receivable includes an allowance for $90,000 in 2001 pledges
that will not be fulfilled. In other words, our contributions receivable would
be higher except for this amount of unfulfilled pledges. On page 2 of the
“Statements of Financial Position,” our unrestricted net assets for FY 2001
are $63,813 in the negative, compared to $416,705 for the same category in
FY 2000. Many of the changes are due to the auditor’s reclassifying items
from 2000 to 2001. The page entitled “Statement of Changes in Net Assets,
Years ended June 2000 and 2001” shows how recategorization of numbers changes
Net Assets. The new baseline shows that we have been putting our monies into
Temporarily Restricted and Permanently Restricted (Torch Campaign) categories.
The cash deficit appears to be related to Publications income, Annual Meeting
expenses, the Centennial Celebration expenses, and the market. Ingrid called
our attention to the “Statement of Activities and Changes in Net Assets, Year
Ended
Joe Seger reported that Gerald Vincent has discovered that our Officers and Directors Liability Insurance Policy did not include Publications personnel.
RESOLVED, that the EC ask Rudy Dornemann to obtain quotes on Liability Insurance without exclusions for the Board of Trustees. Joe Seger moved, David McCreery seconded. PASSED unanimously.
RESOLVED, that we not accept this prepared budget until it includes a $50,000 surplus on the baseline of $914,676. Moved by Tom Schaub. Seconded by Joe Seger. PASSED unanimously.
- Report on Development Committee—A. Ritterspach
- Report on Publications—B.J. Collins, distributed. Transition to Ted Lewis as the new editor of NEA will include transfer of manuscripts and articles from former editor. He will actively solicit new members for the NEA board. B.J. distributed a resolution in nine parts. Jerry suggested that we modify part 4 to read “to the prevailing internal interest rate” instead of “an internal interest rate of three percent per annum.” Accepted as a friendly amendment. Moved by Meyers, seconded by Doug Clark. One clarification suggested is that the revolving fund be capped at $30,000. Joe Seger asked whether there can be an expenditure of $30,000 at the end of the year. Jerry says not quite, there will be books published at the top of the queue to pay for those at the end of the queue. Joe asked whether they must rebuild the $30,000 before they can publish another book. Jerry says no, but in discussion as to whether it is a ‘revolving account,’ he explained that the element of oversight is critical so that there is no deficit in publications. All books in the approved queue are built into the working capital. Nan Frederick suggested a word change that Billie Jean Collins accepted as a friendly amendment, to wit:
RESOLVED, that “ASOR has a temporarily restricted revolving fund designated as supplemental support and facilitation of publishing mission related books.” There was some discussion whether we can accurately project income, and whether the revolving fund really was usable in one year. There was call for the question. PASSED unanimously.
BJ explained that the subscriptions for NEA and BASOR were dropping now because the renewal notices went out late. Current book series editors were kept in place by the COP so that a search can take place. COP wishes to have a full day’s meeting this coming April. There is a very strong book program at present. The web page includes full texts of certain texts so that libraries can see what they could purchase. B.J.’s strategy is to eventually turn this into a member-only service.
B.J. will be recommending a subscription increase for institutions in the context of reconsidering our financial model for publications.
Austin Ritterspach spoke of
the “Explore the Ships and Seaways of Antiquity” cruise, which is a major development
opportunity. Al is not present, so BJ and Austin conferred as to who should
carry this forward. Last spring the cruise was approved pending two conditions:
a letter of agreement vetted by counsel and a tentative budget.
RESOLVED, that the Exec. Committee
reaffirm support of the cruise and instruct COP to proceed advertise the project.
Moved by
Gerald Vincent contended that ASOR is not in compliance with federal regulations and thus exposed. Since he does not wish to be associated with an organization that “flies in the face of IRS regulations while it enjoys the protection of the laws,” he left the meeting.
RESOLVED, that the Exec. Committee reconsider the previous motion and put the whole matter under study. PASSED unanimously.
RESOLVED, that COP proceed with the investigation of the legalities and liabilities of such a tour. PASSED unanimously.
- Report on Archaeological Policy—D. McCreery. CAP has not heard from 20 projects, perhaps because they are overwhelmed by the current situation.
- Report on Annual Meeting and Program—D. Clark asked for feedback on the Meeting.
- Report from Personnel Committee—Nan Frederick. Asked for approval of the Personnel Manual.
Some discussion ensued. It was mentioned that the Manual should be put into a format for review by auditors and ASOR’s legal counsel. This proposal accepted as a friendly amendment.
RESOLVED, that the Personnel Manual be accepted pending review by counsel and auditors; PASSED unanimously.
- Report from Executive Director—R. Dornemann. ASOR belongs to the ACLS and within it is classed as a “small society.” But we have nothing in common with the small societies, whose net value is less than $300,000. He said we need to be in the medium sized societies. To qualify for this status, we should count retired and student memberships in our total number of members, since for ACLS a membership of 1,000 people is the break point between small and medium societies. The benefits of ACLS include networking, prestige, and information which it disseminates on fellowships and other services.
We will have an opportunity to join the Etana Project, which includes publication on the web.
- Moved to Adjourn 11:54 AM. PASSED unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
James F. Strange, Secretary