eFlash! 2020-09

2020 AGM — Annual General Meeting / AGA 2020 — 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 as of the start of the current fiscal year (2020–21). Please refer to the 2019–20 Financial Report (in the documents emailed to members prior to the CEC’s 2020 AGM). 1[1. The Treasurer’s Report starts at 16:57 in the audio recording of the AGM.]

Year-End Financial Report

Referring to the first page of the CEC’s Financial Report for the 2019–20 fiscal year, the association’s financial situation as of 31 May 2020 is summarized as follows:

• Actifs (Assets) of $20,742 in the bank plus $4,033 in Accounts Due plus a $2,750 SOCAN Foundation grant payment due give a total of $27,525;
• Passif (Liabilities) of $12,683 in Accounts Payable plus a grant portion received in advance of $10,500 give a total of $23,183;
• Assets minus Liabilities leave a Net Asset of $4,341.

Page 2 of the Financial Report presents a summary of revenues and expenses (grouped in categories) for the 2019–20 fiscal year. The CEC’s primary sources of revenue this past year were Canada Council for the Arts and SOCAN Foundation grants, and membership dues, while the principal expenses for the same period were Subcontracting (administrative salaries), Professional Fees paid for programming, grant-writing assistance, accounting, translation and prize money awarded to JTTP 2019 winners, as well as Production and Publicity expenses (related primarily to the Sonus upgrade).

Accounts Due this year are outstanding membership payments for 2019–20 and a Representation and Promotion grant from the Canada Council; Accounts Payable consist of Professional fees owed for eContact! and the CEC’s accountant, costs related to the completion of the Sonus upgrade, and production costs for the JTTP 2019 concert planned in Melbourne.

The difference in total revenues ($27,801) and total expenses ($28,220) means that the CEC’s 2019–20 expenses exceeded its revenues by $380.

NB: This report represents the state of the CEC’s finances at the end of the 2019–20 fiscal year; since that time it has been conceded that the Representation and Promotion grant received from the Canada Council will have to be declined, as the event has finally been cancelled due to Covid. This balances out to have no effect on the amount of $380 mentioned above.

Financial Forecast for the Current Fiscal Year

The third page of the Financial Report is an Annex that serves only to provide simplified summaries and projections to members present at the AGM. The first table shows what was described above. The second table presents a simple overview of the projected revenues available to the CEC for the 2020–21 fiscal year: Net Assets (the subtotal from the first table) plus projections of the 2021 Annual Operations grant, 2020–21 membership fees and JTTP 2020 donations leave the CEC with a “working balance” of $37,741 for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Income Sources

SOCAN Foundation

The CEC has received stable funding of $20,000 per year from the SOCAN Foundation since 2016 (when it was increased by 60% from $12,500); this was raised slightly to $21,000 for 2020. Annual Operations from the SOCAN Foundation should become a three-year funding base starting in 2021 (nine organizations receive Annual Operations from the Foundation; the starting dates for their multi-year funding are being staggered over three years). We have just submitted our first multi-year application for 2021–23, and hope that an increase in funding will accompany the new process.

The Canada Council for the Arts

The CEC continues to work towards its goal of receiving core-type funding through the Canada Council. We continue to meet the eligibility criteria and plan to submit an application to the Council’s Support Organization programme for the next deadline in October 2023. If successful, it would provide the CEC with additional multi-year funding, for the four fiscal years starting in June 2024.

The CEC’s Current Financial Situation

As mentioned in previous AGMs, the CEC’s operational costs continue to increase each year but its financial base has not increased sufficiently in parallel. Similar to the situation last year, the only way to avoid important year-end shortfalls was to reduce the number of hours worked by the Administrative team: therefore, in 2019–20 jef gave up two months of work and Yves one month so the CEC could avoid dipping significantly into its Net Assets to complete the fiscal year.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am optimistic that a more robust and stable financial situation is in sight for the CEC as we go forward.

Shawn Pinchbeck
Treasurer of the CEC
Viljandi, Estonia. Friday, September 18, 2020.