Draft Minutes for the regular National Finance Committee meeting May 24,<br />
2011.<br />
<br />
Meeting convened at 8:34 PM (ET) a quorum being present, the Chair being<br />
present and the Secretary being absent.<br />
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Attending: Ken Aaron, Jim Boyd, Campbell Johnson, Kim Kaufman, R. Paul<br />
Martin, Tracy Rosenberg, Alex Steinberg, Barbara Whipperman, Lavarn<br />
Williams, Bruce Wolf, also attending was Executive Director Arlene<br />
Englehardt.<br />
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Agenda:<br />
<br />
1. Approve Draft Agenda (10 minutes)<br />
2. Approve 5-10 Minutes (5 minutes)<br />
3. Check-in on Treasurers Meeting/Report Writer and WBAI LSB Issue (15<br />
minutes)<br />
4. Complete WBAI 6 month review (30 minutes)<br />
5. Complete KPFK 6 month review (30 minutes)<br />
6. Budget Prep Check-in at all 5 stations (20 minutes)<br />
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<br />
At 8:35 PM (ET) the Secretary joined the call and called the roll.<br />
<br />
The Chair asked that the minutes reflect that Bill Crosier has had a death<br />
in the family and so could not attend this meeting.<br />
<br />
Motion: (Tracy Rosenberg) "To approve the agenda." (Passed as amended<br />
without objection)<br />
<br />
Amendment: (Kim Kaufman) "To swap items '4. Complete KPFK 6 month review'<br />
and '5. Complete WBAI 6 month review.'" (Passed without objection)<br />
<br />
Approve 5-10 Minutes 8:46 PM (ET)<br />
<br />
Motion: (R. Paul Martin) "To approve the minutes of the May 10, meeting."<br />
(passed without objection)<br />
<br />
Check-in on Treasurers Meeting/Report Writer and WBAI LSB Issue 8:46 PM<br />
(ET)<br />
<br />
CFO Lavarn Williams told the committee that the issue with some Business<br />
Managers having a problem with the report writing software would be on the<br />
agenda for the next meeting with the Business Managers.<br />
<br />
WBAI LSB Issue 2048<br />
<br />
The question of the WBAI LSB Finance Committee motion regarding executive<br />
sessions of that committee, discussed at the last NFC meeting, was brought<br />
up. It was reported by the Treasurer of the WBAI LSB that the motion was<br />
tabled at the May 11, LSB meeting.<br />
Complete WBAI 6 month review 8:48 PM (ET)<br />
<br />
The WBAI Treasurer reported that the totals for WBAI's current on-air fund<br />
drive were $658,357 pledged as of 8:00 AM today. For the first six months<br />
of FY11 WBAI had spent 60 days pitching. "Listener Support" is doing<br />
better than budget by $38,601. The fulfillment rate is higher than it had<br />
been in the past and it continues to climb. WBAI is making most of its<br />
on-air fund raising goals, although for the Fall one WBAI fell short. This<br />
was partly made up by an extra on-air fund raiser in December. "Grants<br />
Income-CPB/CSG-Unrestricted" is lower because when the FY11 budget was<br />
being made up WBAI Management didn't have the details of the CPB grant for<br />
FY11. They estimated that we'd get more than we ended up getting allocated.<br />
WBAI's "Major Donor Income" is higher than budget by $21,565. "Community<br />
Events Income," "Community Events Income - Restricted" and "Crafts Fair<br />
Income" are being conflated. These categories include WBAI's regular<br />
Saturday morning on-air ticket sales which is a substantial amount of<br />
income. Conflating the income for all three of these separate items makes<br />
it hard to see which ones are raising how much money. The Treasurer again<br />
asked for a separate line for the WBAI Saturday morning ticket sales<br />
income on the FY12 budget template. "Grants Income" was $21,535, it had<br />
been budgeted at $0. "Total Revenue" was better by $31,581 at the half way<br />
point of FY11. The "Gross Salaries" line was $2,073 worse than budget. But<br />
"Total Salaries & Related Expenses" was worse by $25,588 mostly due to<br />
health benefits, with some of the extra accounted for by taxes. The "Rent<br />
Expense -Tower" line was higher than budgeted by $17,898.<br />
<br />
The committee discussed the report. The repair of the premiums problem<br />
that had plagued WBAI for years was discussed. Past and current premiums<br />
are being sent out now and subscribers are coming back to the station. The<br />
CFO said that the "Shared Expenses" line was accrued, not cash.<br />
<br />
Complete KPFK 6 month review 9:35 PM (ET)<br />
<br />
The KPFK Treasurer noted that the Income Statement has different numbers<br />
from what KPFK Management is sending out in their financial statements.<br />
She reported that KPFK is doing fabulously well with regard to income, but<br />
an extra on-air fund raiser was needed in December. The current on-air fund<br />
raiser is set to last for 30 days and has achieved about 70 to 72% of its<br />
goal. She said that the numbers were padded to begin with, actual income<br />
is about $75,000 ahead of budget. Shared expenses are also higher than<br />
budgeted. She noted that she was uncomfortable with the income as stated,<br />
last year the auditor knocked about $200,000 off KPFK's income at the end<br />
of year. She's not sure of the income numbers she's seeing. It looks like<br />
KPFK is about $65,000 better than budget and about $50,000 better than<br />
last year. She noted that the KPFK LSB didn't get to approve last year's<br />
budget.<br />
<br />
The committee discussed the report. It was noted that a lot of the income<br />
lines are lower compared to FY10, and KPFK couldn't afford to lose more<br />
money. The possibility of on-air fund raiser burnout might be happening<br />
due to too many days pitched. An analysis of the premiums and on-air fund<br />
raiser income was under way. It was felt that with a new General Manager<br />
coming to the station on June 15, that the station would have a more<br />
disciplined financial department soon. At this time the budget seems<br />
padded and money goes from one item to another. The idea of stations<br />
providing programming to other stations getting some financial<br />
consideration for that was brought up. It appears that KPFK is actually<br />
about $75,000 worse than in FY10.<br />
<br />
The CFO said that some stations have agreed to reduce their payables to<br />
the National Office and use an average day of on-air fund raising to pay<br />
down Pacifica's debts. An alternative is for stations to send the National<br />
Office one day of credit card on-air fund raising to reduce the amount of<br />
transactions to transfer to the National Office. Some stations are doing<br />
extra days of on-air fund raising though. The CFO will get the committee<br />
the information when it's all done; this money is to retire the FSRN and<br />
Democracy Now! Debt.<br />
<br />
The committee had a short discussion of WPFW's current on-air fund raiser.<br />
<br />
The CFO noted that there are Program Director meetings and that the<br />
stations are sharing fund raising ideas and premiums.<br />
<br />
It was noted that the NFC needs to keep monitoring where stations are in<br />
the budget and also look at the previous year's performance so that any<br />
corrective action doesn't come too late.<br />
<br />
Budget Prep Check-in at all 5 stations 10:07 PM (ET)<br />
<br />
The deadline for the first draft of each station's FY12 budget is May 31.<br />
The committee discussed this. KPFA may not make the deadline, KPFT will be<br />
somewhat late, WPFW doesn't have numbers yet, KPFK will probably not really<br />
move on its FY12 budget until the new General Manager arrives, WBAI is<br />
looking to have a meeting with its General Manager to get the draft FY12<br />
budget.<br />
<br />
The CFO said that we should know soon what the CPB income will look like<br />
for FY12, she is pretty sure that there will be a decrease.<br />
<br />
Adjourned 10:22 PM (ET)<br />
<br />
Submitted by R. Paul Martin, Secretary<br />