Academy Growing Pains: Reorganization and Implementation of Dues

Elizabeth W. Adkins, CA
Vice President, 1992-1995
President 1995-1996
Originally published in “ACA News,” July 1999.

When I was elected to my first term as ACA Vice President in 1992, the Academy was three years old and had come a long way in a very short time. The Board of Regents had created an administrative infrastructure for the organization, developed an alliance with Professional Examination Services, and created the framework for a first-rate exam. Much of this hard work was done by just a few people, unknown to the vast majority of ACA members. ACA still faced two important issues: fine tuning the organizational structure of the board and fiscal stability.

With the framework for a first-rate exam in place, the next task was to address problems with the organizational structure of the Board of Regents. The structure had been created during ACA’s first year. At that time the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer each served two-year terms and were assigned specific responsibilities. The Regents each served three-year terms, without specific assignments. The Vice President was solely responsible for exam development and administration, making the position quite intimidating. Fortunately my predecessor, Deborah Skaggs, had developed a system of procedures, templates and checklists which made my job, as overwhelming as it was, much easier.

The board appointed a task force on by-laws and organizational structure, chaired by the immediate past president, Maygene Daniels. Maygene’s task force did a magnificent job of proposing a revised administrative structure, in which Regents were each assigned a portfolio of responsibilities. Term lengths for each position were limited to two years (except for the Vice President, who serves one year as Vice President, one year as President, and one year as Regent for Nominations). The Regent for Exam Development and the Regent for Exam Administration split the responsibilities previously assumed by the Vice President. The positions of Regent for Outreach and Regent for Certification Maintenance were created, establishing leadership for these two important administrative functions. The Board and membership approved the reorganization plan. This structure has proven to be stable and is still working today.

As these problems were being addressed, however, the issue of fiscal stability remained unresolved. Every treasurer since the first (Karen Benedict) fretted over ACA’s financial structure. While ACA had started with what seemed to be a huge pot of money from certification by petition fees, the Board needed more money than was available to get a reputable exam in place and to provide basic membership services, including newsletters and a membership directory. Every year since the ACA was founded, far more money was going out of its coffers than was coming in. At that time the organization’s incoming revenues were limited to applications fees to take the exam and certification fees once the exam had been passed. There would not be another infusion of money until re-certification started in 1997. The Board looked for ways to cut spending, including discussing whether we could get institutional support from the employers of board members for mailings. Operating in this mode, it was impossible to explore ways of promoting the certification credential to employers or new archivists. All of our good ideas required money, and ACA did not have any to spare. In fact, despite all of the cost cutting we could muster, we were still heading toward a situation where we would run out of money in just a few years.

While all of the Board members were concerned about ACA’s finances, three of us became consumed with finding a way to make the organization fiscally stable. Carla Summers (the Treasurer) and Claudette John (the Regent for Exam Administration) and I prepared a plan and present it to the Board. We decided that everything that could be done to cut costs had already been done, so the only answer was to increase revenues. And since, unlike most professional archival associations, ACA could not generate revenue from registration fees for an annual meeting or the sale of publications (which require seed money which we did not have), the only choice was to implement dues. I can assure you that decision was not made lightly, and the Board questioned us closely on our proposal. In fact, they rejected our first plan for a dues structure and sent us back to the drawing board. It took many hours of discussion and debate before we finally came up with a structure that included the following features:

• Annual dues of $50, to be rolled out to the classes of 1989 and 1990 first, each year adding additional classes until all members were paying dues.
• Reduction of certification fees, and a smaller re-certification fee than originally expected.
• The provision that anyone who refused to pay dues would remain certified for their full eight years, but could not qualify for re-certification until back dues were paid.
• An agreement that any increase in dues had to be approved by members at the annual meeting.

We expected that there would be many people who would be unhappy with our plan, and we were right. But a surprisingly large number of our members understood and accepted our explanation of the need for dues. Enough members chose to pay their dues and recertify to make the organization fiscally viable.

Even after implementing dues, we continued to find ways to reduce costs — in part by consolidating our offices (formerly SAA) and exam development company (formerly Professional Examination Services) into one organization, Capitol Hill Management Services. I haven’t attended a Board meeting in three years, but I’m quite sure that they continue to talk about cutting costs to this day. It’s a necessity, because ACA is still spending a little bit more money each year than is available through certification fees, dues, and interest on investments. But we’re very close to achieving the financial balance of costs and revenues that will ensure that ACA can grow and change for decades to come.