XVI. LERA ANNUAL REPORTS

     Perspectives on Work Editorial Advisory Board Report„Charles Whalen, editor and chair, reported the current state of the Perspectives magazine and announced that the magazine has asked two guest coeditors, Jim Auerbach and David Jacobs, to collaborate with him on the winter 2006 issue. He reported the launch of the Perspectives Online Companion, an online expansion of each issue, had taken place in the fall of 2004 and will be updated on a biannual basis.
     Foundations Committee„ John Burton announced that the meeting was cancelled and therefore had nothing to report. It was noted the committee is currently without a chair.
     Education Committee—Because the committee meeting was delayed until Friday, no report was given at this meeting.
     Sections and Councils Committee„Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, cochair, gave a report on the Industry Councils, in which he noted that 482 people have signed up for Industry Councils, and 83 of them became new members of the Association because of their interest in the councils. He summarized the role and objectives of the councils, an initiative enabled by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and asked board members to review the proposed charters for three councils: Aerospace, Airline, and Public Sector-Federal.
     He made a motion to accept the charters of Aerospace, Airlines and Public Sector-Federal as submitted and sanction the first three LERA Industry Councils. Comments were made to recognize the hard work of those behind the councils and of their importance and relevance to LERA. The motion was passed unanimously.
     Hoyt Wheeler, cochair, reported on the LERA Interest Sections, summarizing their roles and activities, including conducting surveys, convening meetings, distributing e-mail newsletters and listservs, and developing bylaws. A question was heard on the role of the sections regarding the development of the annual meeting, to which Hoyt explained that sections are invited to submit proposals for sessions or workshops. A suggestion was heard to reserve slots in the program for sections, to which it was noted that the annual meeting is already a very tight program and that it would be difficult to make such a policy; in addition, doing so might involve needing to amend association bylaws, because current bylaws called for the president, cochairs, and committee to determine the program.
     Together, the cochairs brought a motion from the committee to split the Sections and Councils Coordinating Committee and create separate coordinating committees for both areas. Hoyt would chair the Sections Coordinating Committee, and Cutcher-Gershenfeld would chair the Councils Coordinating Committee. It was noted that the recommendation did not include adding a position to the board and that each committee would make individual reports to the board. Cutcher-Gershenfeld and Hoyt would be responsible as chairs to reconstitute the committees and recruit members. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

     Development Committee„ David Lipsky, chair, reported on the history of the committee, noting the creation of subcommittees that focus on specific fundraising efforts and research. He brought forward the following motions from the committee for the board to consider:
     A. Motion„to announce the launch of a three-year development campaign at the 2006 annual meeting, the goal of which will be $1 million. The campaign will run from January 2006 to January 2009. A question was heard on plans to endow any of the $1 million raised by the campaign, to which Lipsky reported the Development Committee has discussed the benefits and disadvantages of endowed funds with attention paid to the mission and projections of the association and the administration of endowment accounts, but there were no formal recommendations from the committee at this time. The primary focus for raising the funds, he noted, is to ensure the continued operation of the association. He did point out that the campaign will involve various giving opportunities, including naming opportunities, restricted gifts, et cetera. The motion was passed unanimously.
     B. Motion„That LERA impose a 10 percent administrative fee on all such gifts, including the Susan C. Eaton Fund, to cover the operational and administrative costs of development and administration of such funds. This was passed unanimously.
     C. Motion„Lipsky reported on the Susan C. Eaton Scholar-Practitioner Fund and recognized and acknowledged the efforts of Tom Kochan to raise approximately $50,000 for the fund. He reported that the committee recommended that LERA not put the $50,000 in an endowment, but rather create a small committee to administer the fund to be able to give annual monetary awards to deserving scholar-practitioners. The fund would be managed to allocate all the monies within a finite period of time, such as ten to fifteen years, and that the time period should only be extended should more money be given for the award. It was also recommended that a member of the Finance and Membership Committee be a member of this subcommittee. The motion passed unanimously.
     D. Motion„To create an annual solicitation process that would be included in the regular renewal application as a list of tiered check-off options for additional contribution amounts, giving members an opportunity to give above and beyond their membership dues. The motion was passed unanimously.
     Lipsky asked the board to review and make comments offline on a draft of the LERA case statement, which will be circulated soon to the board. He described the case statement as a rationale of the campaign that might encourage donors to support LERA. He also asked the board to consider and give feedback on some of the logistics of the campaign, including fundraising targets, activities, and audiences and invited board members to take part in the Development Committee activities and planning. In addition, he asked that, by the time LERA announces the capital campaign in January 2006, that he be able to report 100 percent board participation in fundraising efforts.
     Finally, there was discussion regarding the idea to create a LERA Foundation, a nonprofit body that would administer the fundraising efforts and gifts. The committee agreed to consider the idea in a future meeting.

     Finance and Membership Committee„ Chair Greg Woodhead reported on the 2004 financial report, including the estimated year-end membership dues revenues of $142,044 and the grants received revenues of $221,547. He pointed out the association appears to be grant dependent. He summarized the membership report, including the 2004 membership totals of 2,871. He also reported that the committee discussed joint membership options. It was noted that local chapters are not in favor of joint memberships but that they are researching unified membership structure. He presented the following motions from committee:

     A. Motion„to approve the 2005 budget as presented. A second was heard. The motion passed unanimously.
     B. Motion„to raise the annual membership dues effective January 2006. The annual regular membership dues would be raised from $95 to $105; the emeritus membership dues would be raised from $55 to $60; library subscriptions would be raised from $175 to $190; student memberships would remain at $25. The motion passed unanimously.
     Woodhead asked that, in the coming year, board members continue the practice of making five personal contacts (by e-mail or phone) to members as a way to encourage membership renewals.

     Report of the Secretary/Treasurer and Executive Director„ Peter Feuille, secretary-treasurer, reported that the financial situation of the association cannot be taken care of by simply cutting expenditures and commended the staff for managing the expenditures. He reported that progress was made this year in understanding what is involved in development and fundraising efforts and acknowledged the work of the Development Committee. He acknowledged that the three-year Sloan Foundation grant has been much needed by the association in creating programs that would interest new members.
     Paula Wells, executive director, summarized the financial and membership reports that were provided, and answered questions from the board. Her summary included a profile of the year, highlighted primarily by the addition of new staff, activities surrounding the name change the development of new LERA Industry Councils and the reactivation of the National Policy Forum in the FMCS's NLMC last June. A comment was heard regarding the information and data base systems ith which the national staff works, and a suggestion was made for the board to help in some way. Wells welcomed such an exploration of the database system and possible solutions. A suggestion was also heard that the association might consider increasing the expenditures for membership development.

     NCAC Committee„ Lavonne Ritter, NCAC chair, reported that the committee discussed changes to the chapter awards process and nomination form and passed several recommendations, including a general request for more supporting material to accompany nominations; clarifying descriptive language for each award and suggested supporting material; adding specific wording stating that, once a chapter wins a Chapter Star Award, its record again restarts again at zero.
     Discussion was heard on chapter dues status, showing that seven chapters are in arrears on their dues to national. The committee elected to place the Greater Cincinnati chapter on inactive status rather than revoking its charter. They discussed a dues waiver request from the Gold Rush Chapter, but did not approve the waiver, requesting more information instead. The committee reported three chapter grants dispersed in 2004, and one grant was moved to the 2005 budget. NCAC members Talmage Reynolds and Matthew Bodah have been reappointed to serve on the committee for threeyear terms, ending 2008.
     A request was made for the board to consider approving the imposition of a deadline for chapters to pay their dues to national. A motion was heard that national use stronger wording clearly stating to chapters that by being in arrears on dues to national that they are "jeopardizing their tax-exempt status." A second was heard. The motion was passed unanimously.
     A suggestion was heard from the board to communicate the pending capital campaign to chapters and to include for consideration of a chapter to National Merit Award the criteria of higher percentages of individual memberships in the national association as well as contribution to the campaign. NCAC was requested to encourage chapters to provide their members' contact information to national. Lavonne Ritter suggested that the Development Committee consider a solicitation of chapters for the campaign as well as annual gifts.

     Editorial Committee„Adrienne Eaton, editor-in-chief, reported that the committee discussed the 2005 research volume, which will be focused on ethics. Although they do not have a proposal for the 2006 research volume ready to present to the board at this time, they did review a list of chapters and authors suggested by David Lewin. The view of the committee is that this volume is looking like a review of contemporary issues in industrial relations and that it will be recommended that the board approve by e-mail the forthcoming proposal. Suggestions for future volumes included a volume on retirement issues.

     National Policy Forum 2005„James A. Auerbach, NPF 2005 meeting coordinator, gave a brief report on the plans for the program, which will take place June 16¿17, 2005, at the Hotel Washington in Washington, D.C. The theme of the event will be "Benefits at Risk: Meeting the Challenge of Providing Health Care Benefits and Retirement Income in the 21st Century." Financial support, in the form of sponsorships and individual gift solicitations is being sought for the meeting. Joe Hanson of the UFCW and Bill Vaughn of Ahold USA have been named as conference cochairs. Steve Sleigh noted that at this time the committee is securing very high-profile plenary speakers.

     Program Committee 58th Annual Meeting„Stephen R. Sleigh, president elect and program chair, reported that Ralph Craviso and Richard Freeman have agreed to cochair the committee. The program will take place January 5¿8, 2006, in Boston, MA. The theme will be "Labor and Capital in the 21st Century: Human, Social, and Financial Contributions to Creating Wealth."