November 29, 2016
Every year in the November/December issue of this publication, we publish AICC’s annual report. This is the Association’s commitment to you, its members, of transparency in the financial management of your Association. This year’s report can be found here.
I believe it is important that members understand that AICC’s governance, meaning its board of directors, takes very seriously its fiduciary responsibility. Our bylaws determine the makeup of our budget committee, chaired in this past year by Tony Schleich, president of American Packaging in Hutchinson, Kan. The budget committee convenes at least quarterly for reports on our financial performance and projections of income and expenses to ensure we are on track in our major revenue areas.
In addition to hearing these reports, the committee also determines our investment policies and oversees the investment of our growing reserve fund. In that regard, the committee oversaw a major revision to AICC’s investment policy document in January of this year, and also transitioned management of our reserve funds to The Verity Group of McLean, Va. AICC’s reserve funds are approaching $2.0 million, a figure that represents two-thirds of our annual expense budget of $3 million. By any yardstick, this metric is a healthy one for trade associations such as AICC. What’s more, the investment made by AICC’s leadership 25 years ago in purchasing its headquarters here in Alexandria, Va., has provided a substantial asset on our balance sheet—one whose fair market value is approaching $2.5 million.
Why is all this important? If you’re reading this from a member perspective, where your company might have sales approaching $30 million and many millions more in the value of your inventory, building, equipment, vehicles, and land, AICC’s numbers are small potatoes. But they are important to you because they show that your Association is built on a sound financial foundation of diverse revenue streams—dues, convention income, education and training, etc.—and that this allows us to continue to expand our services and offerings to you. Prudent management of these resources means that we can continue to provide the very best in membership services now, and our growing reserves mean we have backup resources should we need to use them. Fortunately, we have not had to tap these funds for purposes of covering everyday expenses.
So, as you read this year’s report, I hope you will appreciate that an association on sound financial footing is an association that has its members as its first priority. Thank you for your continued support of AICC.
Steve Young
President, AICC
