eFlash! 2011-09

2011 AGM — Annual General Meeting /
AGA 2011 — Assemblée générale annuelle

Saturday, 13 August 2011, 16h15–17h00
Christie Studio: 601 Christie Street, Toronto
By tram: 512 — St Clair Ave. W. at Christie St. Farside
By bus: 126 — Christie St. at Benson Ave.

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Treasurer’s Report

In general there is slight fluctuation but no significant changes in the expenses the CEC has from year to year, which include salaries, equipment and software costs, server and hosting fees, office costs, etc. Projects are budgeted to break even (with certain funding sources and incomes spread across several projects, notably SOCAN Foundation Core Funding). Yves Gigon and jef chippewa have again been rigorous in monitoring the CEC’s expenditures and activities to ensure that the CEC’s various ongoing projects and administrative tasks, while continuing to grow in size and complexity, remain attainable with the available resources.

Institutional Income Sources

The Canada Council for the Arts’ Writing & Publishing Section has supported eContact! since its first online volume (issues 1.1–1.4) in 1997–98. Following six years of stasis in the funding levels, we are pleased to report the second 15% increase in a row of their financial support. The CCA has responded to our most recent application (for issues 14.1–14.4) with very strong commendations and has acknowledged the importance of the journal to the national and international community, raising their financial support to $16,700 for the 2011–12 year.

The CEC is now in its seventh year of receiving Core Funding support from the SOCAN Foundation. This source has since 2005 been spread across various projects as needed, or has been used for the purchase of new software, or to realize special projects, as needed. Support is currently at $8,000 per year.

Other Income Sources

CEC Membership has for many years been very stable with a slight and constant increase each year. Currently we are sitting at just over 200 members and have had a of 27% increase in membership over the past five years and 47% over the past ten years.

The JTTP 2011 prize packages (a value of about $4,000) are built entirely from private individual (cash) and institutional (CDs, books, magazines, etc.) donations.

CD sales have always constituted only a fairly small portion of the revenue. However, this Fall, CEC Adminstrators Yves Gigon and jef chippewa will be updating the various CD pages in the hopes of slightly increasing general CD sales by making information more accessible and attractive. The majority of the CDs are, however, typically used as promotional materials and have never been considered as a key source of revenue for the CEC.

Other

In the late 1980s, a Capital Fund was established to act as a buffer to cover any eventual difficult years or unforeseeable deficits. It is understood that in the long term, years of shortage are balanced by years of surplus to maintain the balance, currently kept around $20,000.

The upcoming CEC 25th Anniversary Tour is made possible through the support of the SOCAN Foundation, through the Creators’ Assistance Programme. Participating institutions also make a contribution, but the $30,000 provided by the Foundation is the major source of revenue for this project.

Summary

The financial situation of the CEC remains very healthy, our final budget shows a surplus of $138.

Signed, Eldad Tsabary, Treasurer of the CEC, 3 August 2011.