A couple notes for those who are reading this thread:

1.  It is evident from the financial reports in the form of the IRS 990
forms that decisions were made ... perhaps in 2011 or 2012 or 2013 that led
to the losses.
2.  Many current board members (most certainly) were not participants in
the decisions that set the stage for the unfortunate state of ARMA
International's reserve funds....so I do not advocate that anyone try to
point fingers at individuals currently serving.  That's not really
appropriate in any case.  In fact a few on the Board today have merely been
working hard to either stem the losses or to keep things going.
3.  The best that we can expect at this point is that the Board and staff
have a plan to stem draining of reserve funds, that as an Association we
learn from that experience.

Please also be aware that I have no axe to grind, and if I did, it likely
only be with those who set the stage for the problems the Association has
faced....not with those who have been doing their best to keep ARMA
afloat.  Remember one thing....the decisions that were made were made based
on the Association's need to supplement dues revenues and conference
revenues with something more.  So, efforts were well intended, if not
executed well.

Doug Allen, CRM, CDIA+
Past President
[log in to unmask]

On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 12:18 PM, Douglas Allen <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> This purpose of this post is to raise issues that merit discussion between
> the ARMA International Board of Directors, the staff of the Association and
> its members regarding the Association’s financial status and the clear lack
> of transparency exhibited by the Association at a national level and its
> members.  I have NO interest in using this to attack any individual nor in
> using this as some launching point from which I might promote my
> involvement in the Association beyond being a member deserving of answers
> to what has happened in recent years.
>
> As I understand it, we are in a near untenable financial situation and
> that a large part of the problem we face stems from a decision to build
> some sort of software evaluation tool designed to boost non-conference and
> non-dues revenues.  While I applaud the thought that ARMA needs to seek
> non-traditional revenue sources, I challenge the foundation on which the
> Association decided to enter the software business.  Again, as I understand
> it, there was NO market study suggesting that the software tool in question
> was needed nor “in demand” by any identifiable group.  I also understand
> that there was no appropriate level of project management that could have
> prevented a $ 1.2 million overall loss to the Association (and its members).
>
> My information on the loss may not be entirely correct, but here is what
> the ARMA International 990 forms show. The numbers suggest that there may
> be additional reasons for our financial decline:
>
> Total loss over the last 5 years = $2,091,453 as stated in the 990's
>
> FYE 6/30/12 .... -94,708
>
> FYE 6/30/13 ..... - 133,170
>
> FYE 6/30/14 .... - 611,643
>
> FYE 6/30/15 ..... -831,016
>
> FYE 6/30/16 ..... - 430,986
>
> What factors beyond the software project loss account for the
> frighteningly high financial losses?  Is our membership no longer at a
> level that can sustain 22 full time employees?  If so, how does ARMA
> International’s Board of Directors plan to address this chronic problem?
>
> I have heard that ARMA is projecting a $250,000 loss fr FYE 6/30/18.  Why?
>
> I would like the Association as a whole – the Board and the staff to
> explain a few things to the membership including the following:
>
> 1.        On what basis was a decision made by the Board of Directors in
> prior years to launch a major initiative to get into the software business?
>
> 2.       Why were members…who could readily have called this initiative
> into question…not engaged in a discussion of the project, its potential and
> its risks?
>
> 3.       When it became clear that losses were mounting from $90K+ to
> 800K+ to now a total of $ 1.2 million, why were no corrective actions
> taken?  As a second part of that question, WHO if anyone was minding the
> store?
>
> 4.       Why has ARMA turned away from being transparent with its
> members?  You must be aware that bad news travels quickly and that without
> full information that misinformation can readily develop and spread just as
> rapidly?
>
> 5.       When will this Association, at a national level become fully
> transparent with its members?  We each have a stake in the Association’s
> success, have fervent desires for its success, but cannot contribute with a
> fully transparent Board of Directors and a fully transparent staff group?
>
> 6.       What is the current regarding the Association’s finances?  Where
> are we with what was once a healthy reserve fund?  Has that been fully or
> substantially depleted?
>
> As a Past President ARMA International, and as a past member of the Board
> of Directors, I can tell you that we have had to learn several times that
> transparency works best when it is practiced.  Whenever we have erred and
> failed to be transparent, we have made serious mistakes that cost us money
> and have cost us members in the past.  I won’t go into those past instances
> here.
> I call on the ARMA International Board (you are the people responsible) to
> come forward now to be transparent about what has happened, to be frank
> with the membership on what has happened and to be bluntly honest with our
> current financial prognosis.
>
> Douglas P. Allen, CRM, CDIA+
> [log in to unmask]
>

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