Dear SLA members,
What follows is the salient information shared during the December 5th Town Hall, either in my remarks or during the Q&A period. The Town Hall recording is available here.
Throughout the year, I have been sharing with you the difficult situation SLA is facing. Due to a series of factors, both historic and more recent, SLA has found itself in an untenable financial position. If no measures were taken, SLA would run out of money in Quarter 1 of 2023. As it is, we will start 2023 with around $450,000 in available assets in our coffers.
Earlier this year, the Board of Directors began considering different solutions to our financial situation:
- determining a right-sized scope to bid a new management contract;
- merging with another association;
- partnering with another organization (not a merger, but a sharing of administrative functions to leverage economies of scale);
- moving to a volunteer-run organization;
- directly hiring staff;
- dissolving; and
- some combination of the above.
Prior to the annual conference, I assigned sub-groups of the board to investigate fully the following areas: a reduced scope with an association management company, a partnership and shared services model with another organization, and, to fulfill our fiduciary duties, a dissolution plan.
This fall, a request for proposals (RFP) was prepared and sent to selected association management companies (AMCs). I wish to thank the members of the subgroup for their work: Tara Grove, Heather Kotula, Ty Webb, Bill Noorlander, Dan Bostrom and Anne Barker.
A number of AMCs expressed interest and submitted proposals. Interviews followed. We had a great number of board directors attend these interviews, along with some of the 2023 elected directors.
The Board also decided at that time to not pursue the shared services model with another organization.
Based on the interviews with the AMCs and the recommendations from the subgroup, the Board decided to pursue discussions with one firm in particular. Negotiations are under way to have in place a contract that fills SLA’s most pressing needs and that we can also afford. We are looking for a win-win situation for us and this partner.
I now wish to thank the Negotiations Team: Valerie Perry, John DiGilio, Seema Rampersad and especially Bill Noorlander. I was a member myself as well.
I also want to thank our managing director, Monica Evans-Lombe, for her insights and advice throughout this process. Her help was immeasurable.
I’m very pleased and happy to say that we have reached a verbal agreement on a new management contract. We are now awaiting the contract and a draft scope of services to finalize negotiations and, at the end, put down signatures.
I’m sure you are very eager to know who this AMC is. I look forward to sharing that with you. But I have a thing about not announcing things publicly before signatures are drying on the paper.
However, I can say that we will enter a contract with a new AMC. The transition will not start before the end of the year. It will be shared out to members so you will know what to expect.
At this point, I wish to warmly thank MCI USA. It was a pleasure to work with MCI President Erin Fuller and all the SLA staff over the years. I thank them for their considerable contributions to SLA.
The current SLA staff will continue until the end of the current contract. We will then be working with new staff. As with MCI, phone calls and mail for SLA will be processed at the new AMC’s offices.
We do not foresee disruptions with the annual conference. We have the good fortune that MLA is taking care of the logistics (registrations, accommodations, food and drink contracts, a/v, etc). For SLA, our work is making sure our programming is in order and continuing searching for sponsorships. SLA will need to finalize as many of the details as possible before the end of the contract, such as the number of conference scholarships, community events, etc. We will share our conference revenues with MLA, but MLA takes all the financial risks (something to be grateful for under the circumstances).
It’s still too early to talk about which technologies will remain and which ones will change (from Connect to Zoom and all in between). There are continuing licenses, there are budgetary limits, etc. The new AMC will be conducting an assessment of our activities and will come up with technology suggestions. The content, though, remains SLA’s. Maybe we will change our learning management system, for example, but the content will migrate to remain available.
The change in AMCs does not necessitate a change in the SLA bylaws. Bylaws delineate the governance structure of our association, not its management. The Bylaws Subcommittee of the Governance & Strategy Committee is, however, working on some recommendations. And incidentally, efforts to create a working group on the SLA code of conduct and another for sponsorships is taking place.
Now, if we are careful, if we focus very much on the branding and the growth opportunities of the association, SLA could be back in the black at the end of 2023 to mid-2024. Make no mistake, that means a reduction of services and sacrifices.
We will work with fewer staff. There will be less staff support for the communities. The Board liaisons will become the main contact persons for community leaders. The liaison program will need to be reinvigorated.
There will be less financial support to communities coming from headquarters. Our treasurer, Valerie Perry, has been keeping you up to date on these questions. More information is forthcoming as we start the budget process for 2023.
The focus still needs to remain on SLA’s sustainability, as we are not out of the woods yet. Things that are not directly related to SLA’s survival will have to wait.
I’m beyond pleased to be able to share this news with you. I told you at the annual conference that there was a future for SLA. I still believe that, and it’s right there for the taking if we persevere and make the right decisions.
Now, in other news, coming up is the next, and last, Open Board meeting of the year, on December 15th.
December 15th is also when the second round of submissions opens for the 2023 MLA/SLA Annual Conference. This call is for posters and lightning talk sessions. Lightning talk sessions will be held during live virtual sessions ONLY and not at the in-person meeting. Posters may be presented both in person and on demand, or on demand only. Deadline is January 26.
In December, also watch for the Call for Volunteers from President-Elect Seema Rampersad for our renewed (and more efficient) array of committees and subcommittees. Your work and contributions are important and valued.
#GivingTuesday donations mounted up to almost $1,000 this year. You can still make a donation until the end of the year and you will receive a tax receipt. For our American members, SLA also receives a portion of your purchases made through the Amazon Smiles website.
I know I speak for the Board of Directors when I say we greatly appreciate your support!
Warm regards,
Catherine Lavallée-Welch
2022 SLA President
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