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Monday, October 22, 2012

National Director Report

National Director Report by Ed Fisher

FMCA's national conventions continue to shrink in attendance, but there was a glimmer of hope in 2012 . This year, the number of attending Family coaches exceeded the budgeted number. I do not have the exact number, but in order of magnitude, the convention was budgeted for 1700 coaches, and attendance was near 2000.

There were 315 voting members in attendance, out of a possible 470.

Discussions of a financial nature centered around balancing operating costs with income. The industry did not recover as expected in 2011-2012. Thus, in Feb. 2012, the Executive Board charged the Executive Director with identifying 1.2 million dollars in possible cost savings. This was done by May 2012 with staff's help. It should be noted that membership has declined from 130,000 in 2003 to 83,000 in 2012, and magazine income has dropped in line with membership or more. The Executive Board approved a budget with a 61,000 dollar surplus, and that was increased to 107,000 dollars by vote of the Governing Board, by permanently eliminating the reimbursement to the Governing Board members of their convention registration fees. This compares to 1.5 million dollar plus deficits in previous years.

Staffing in Cincinnati has been reduced from 53 in 2009 to 37 in 2012. Executive Director Brad Koshland resigned in November 2011. Membership Services department head, Jerry Yeates was asked to be the acting Executive Director, in addition to his regular duties. He has since been appointed Executive Director at no increase in pay, and his original position has been eliminated.

The Summer 2013 Family Reunion has been scheduled for  Gillette Wyoming, and proposed future sites are Redmond Oregon in 2014, and Madison Wisconsin in 2015.

A change to member services was the deletion of the medical evacuation program as a free benefit, at a budget saving of 341,529 dollars. It will be offered as a group benefit, at an affordable cost, to those who desire to purchase it.

The 3  bylaw changes we discussed at the Rockahock rally went as desired by consensus of Dogwood. The change to allow board meetings electronically, and the one to allow a member to hold office in two chapters (except National Director) were approved, and the one to allow towables to be full members was defeated.

Due to financial pressures, the convention parking committee was asked to forgo their compensation for the Indianapolis convention. They refused, so parking was done at no cost by officers and other volunteers. All agreed that the parking went extremely well, and as a result , the Parking Committee's compensation was permanently removed from the Policy and Procedures and from the budget. 

The final vote of the day was the unanimous approval to award Life Membership in FMCA to our own Judy Czarsty.