eFlash! 2017-09

2017 AGM — Annual General Meeting / AGA 2017 — Assemblée générale annuelle

Treasurer’s Report / Rapport Du Trésorier

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The following is a report on the CEC’s current financial situation early into the current fiscal year (2017–18). Please refer to the 2016–17 Financial Report.

Year-End Financial Report

Page 2 of the Financial Report shows a summary of revenues and expenses for the last fiscal year ending 31 May 2017.

Our main sources of funding in this period are from the SOCAN Foundation and membership dues.

Principle expenses for the CEC are administration salaries, and subcontracting work such as translation, Guest Editors, etc.

As discussed at the 2016 AGM, we foresaw the need to use up to $2500 from the Capital Fund; however, through careful management, only $2159 of that amount was utilized (“Balance of EXPENSES over revenues” under the tables on page 2).

Page 1 indicates our financial situation on 31 May 2017 is as follows:

• Assets of $16,803 in the bank plus $1359 in outstanding revenues = total $18,162
• Liabilities of $12,650 (accounts payable, but not yet spent as of 31 May 2017)
• Assets minus Liabilities leave a Net Asset of $5512.

Accounts payable this year consist of $6000 received before the end of the last fiscal year that is earmarked for SONUS in 2017, as well as subcontracting (translation and Guest Editor fees) for eContact!

On page 3, you will find an annex that provides a projection for revenues in the CEC’s 2017–18 fiscal year: Net Assets plus the second payment due for the 2017 SOCAN Foundation Annual Operations Grant plus the projected first payment for the 2018 Annual Operations Grant leave the CEC with a “working balance” of $25,512 for the present fiscal year.

Institutional Income Sources

The Canada Council Funding Situation

Please note the conspicuous absence of Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) funding this year. Last year it was mentioned that we had an unsuccessful application. Discussions with grant agents at the CCA, as well as with others in the community indicated we were in the “wrong” programme. We should have moved to Music or Support Organization funding years ago. It was not obvious to us that there was “problem” as we received matching or increased funding through Writing & Publishing from 1998 until the last three applications. In the Grants for Literary and Art Magazines component, we were competing with journals that hire professional writers. The interest of eContact! — one of its many — is the first-hand information that the artists and practitioners themselves offer — this constitutes very important “primary source” research material that is very different in nature. We are in the process of moving to receiving core-type funding through the Canada Council, but we require three successful Project Grant applications to be eligible.

Since we did not receive core-type funding last year in the form of a Literary and Art Magazines grant, do not have a history of Project Grants and our annual revenues are not over $50,000, we were not eligible this year to apply to the Support Organization component (core-type funding).

What this means, concretely, is that this year is going to be a little tight due to the unsuccessful application last year and our ineligibility this year for core-type funding. The next deadline — in the CCA’s New Funding Model — is December 2017 (Project grants for the 2018–19 year). While no cuts will be needed in terms of salaries or essential expenses, we will need to keep expenses to a bare minimum for another year. However, we foresee no need to tap into the Capital Fund as we did last year to get through the year.

To help deal with this situation and turn lemons into lemonade, so to speak, the Board has decided to reduce the number of issues of volumes 19 and 20 of eContact! to three instead of four issues. This will allow the Administration to put more of its time and energy into planning and preparations for the future and less than usual into the research and production of journal issues for which no Canada Council funding was received. Despite the reduction in the number of issues, as the President’s Report made clear, we remain committed to the promotion of JTTP through the journal and will still manage to publish engaging content for our readers.

SOCAN Foundation

On the other hand, a massive increase of 2016 funding from the SOCAN Foundation was crucial in helping us survive the financial discomfort brought about by the cessation of CCA funding. The $20,000 awarded in 2016 was matched in 2017.

Additionally, we applied for and received $6000 as Special Project funding for the 1st stage in the long-awaited SONUS upgrade.

The Future

Despite the challenges in regards to CCA funding in recent years, the CEC’s financial situation remains healthy and we have a positive outlook for the future. The CEC has weathered many changes since its founding over 30 years ago and we see no reason to doubt its capacity to survive the present transitions. On behalf of the Board, we have absolute confidence that the Administration will continue to give its best to managing the CEC’s activities in the interests of its members and the community.

Shawn Pinchbeck
Treasurer of the CEC
Toronto, Saturday, 12 August 2017