[UAH] Building UNAA's fiscal discipline
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9:16 AM |
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Dear Members,
Following last week's discussions about the debt that the Association incurred from Philadelphia, there has been an overwhelming interest in how the candidates would get the organization out of debt, ensure that we don't incur anymore, as well as questions about how the new constitution failed us.
While not completely exhaustive, please allow me to make the following very humble suggestions based on my experiences on the UNAA Council to generate a conversation;
1) The UNAA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dallas, Texas should vote on a constitutional amendment requiring that UNAA Executive must present, and the UNAA Council approve a balanced or surplus budget at all times. No exceptions. In cases of a surplus, that would go to paying off all UNAA past debts, and if no more debt, funding a scholarship program for our Diaspora youth. We must live within our means or very quickly become irrelevant.
2) The UNAA Constitution calls for a seven member Executive. Up to now, two years after the current leadership was voted into office, the UNAA Executive is still understaffed, and has not as provided for in the Constitution nominated and provided to the Council a third Director for confirmation. The current Director of the Development (DoD), and the Executive have been juggling the work of a would be Director of Communications, including developing and maintaining the website, related communication tools, job board, UNAA Membership database, etc. The Executive proposed to move the current DoD to the Directorship of Communications (that still would not have met the constitutional requirement that we have three appointed Directors). In response, the Council said they would only take a vote after the Executive provides an update on the UNAA Philadelphia Financial Status, we never heard back from the President who had proposed this change to the Council in writing. My leadership would utilize the full expertise of our membership and in the spirit of this year's theme, "Harnessing the Power of the Diaspora" freeing the positions of the Executive Secretary and Director of Development to pursue strategic initiatives to grow the organizations' revenues.
3) In Dallas, one of the reasons we have been so successful is because we started this process early; (2009 while competing against Denver) and just like UNAA Boston 2003, we started the process of registering people for the convention early on. By the end of October 2012, just one month after Philadelphia, we had more than 100 people registered, many of them people on the Dallas Convention Organizing Committee. To put this into perspective; if you get the members of the current UNAA leadership – Executive, Council, BOT (24), Electoral Commission (13), Dallas Convention Organizing Committee (85+) and you add their spouses and friends, you would get almost 300 people. (While I am counting 11 Council Members, at full capacity, the Council would be 22 people instead of the current 11). These are the people who should always be encouraged very early on to register as it would generate the much needed seed funds, enthusiasm and momentum as it has done for Dallas and as it did 10 years ago for the very successful UNAA Boston. We need to realize that the Diaspora community has grown and changed, people have options on where to go during the labor day weekend, among other trips and conventions throughout the year. The earlier we interest and lock them in, the more successful we shall be. The model that you begin aggressively advertizing after January, after the rates begin going up is flawed.
4) My leadership will reform UNAA's refund policy by eliminating refunds and replacing them with transfers and postponements as well as instituting limits on when one can claim transfers and postponements. For example, if you have registered for UNAA Dallas 2013 and can no longer make it, UNAA can postpone your registration to San Diego 2014, for the same benefits and at no cost to you, or the Association will find someone who can buy that registration from you for 100%. The current policy is very informal, and rarely implemented and with UNAA's poor record keeping in the past, we have people from Chicago 2009 still asking for refunds, and there is no way of telling if they received those refunds in the previous years. This makes financial planning very cumbersome and has contributed to UNAA's financial woes in the past considering money is spent almost as soon as people register.
At the end it is UNAA's debt, it is our debt, and it won't matter whose decision or vote it was to go to the Philadelphia Marriott, even though it is very important that the UNAA Members know how decisions are being made in their Association and the positions of their leaders in such matters. That's democracy.
As soon as the vote for the Philadelphia Marriott took place, I moved on and I poured my heart into making it a very successful convention and we had a big group from Dallas travel to Philadelphia to welcome people to Dallas the following year.
As a presidential candidate, and Chairman of the Dallas Convention, I have moved past the current debt on whose responsibility it was to go to the Philadelphia Marriott, because it is now UNAA's debt; and I am once again pouring my heart out to ensure the success of the Dallas convention as well as propose solutions to pay off our debt, and to never ever leave a convention with debt.
That's my pledge to you!
www.unaa2013.org
--
Brian Kwesiga
UNAA Presidential Candidate, 2013
Following last week's discussions about the debt that the Association incurred from Philadelphia, there has been an overwhelming interest in how the candidates would get the organization out of debt, ensure that we don't incur anymore, as well as questions about how the new constitution failed us.
While not completely exhaustive, please allow me to make the following very humble suggestions based on my experiences on the UNAA Council to generate a conversation;
1) The UNAA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dallas, Texas should vote on a constitutional amendment requiring that UNAA Executive must present, and the UNAA Council approve a balanced or surplus budget at all times. No exceptions. In cases of a surplus, that would go to paying off all UNAA past debts, and if no more debt, funding a scholarship program for our Diaspora youth. We must live within our means or very quickly become irrelevant.
2) The UNAA Constitution calls for a seven member Executive. Up to now, two years after the current leadership was voted into office, the UNAA Executive is still understaffed, and has not as provided for in the Constitution nominated and provided to the Council a third Director for confirmation. The current Director of the Development (DoD), and the Executive have been juggling the work of a would be Director of Communications, including developing and maintaining the website, related communication tools, job board, UNAA Membership database, etc. The Executive proposed to move the current DoD to the Directorship of Communications (that still would not have met the constitutional requirement that we have three appointed Directors). In response, the Council said they would only take a vote after the Executive provides an update on the UNAA Philadelphia Financial Status, we never heard back from the President who had proposed this change to the Council in writing. My leadership would utilize the full expertise of our membership and in the spirit of this year's theme, "Harnessing the Power of the Diaspora" freeing the positions of the Executive Secretary and Director of Development to pursue strategic initiatives to grow the organizations' revenues.
3) In Dallas, one of the reasons we have been so successful is because we started this process early; (2009 while competing against Denver) and just like UNAA Boston 2003, we started the process of registering people for the convention early on. By the end of October 2012, just one month after Philadelphia, we had more than 100 people registered, many of them people on the Dallas Convention Organizing Committee. To put this into perspective; if you get the members of the current UNAA leadership – Executive, Council, BOT (24), Electoral Commission (13), Dallas Convention Organizing Committee (85+) and you add their spouses and friends, you would get almost 300 people. (While I am counting 11 Council Members, at full capacity, the Council would be 22 people instead of the current 11). These are the people who should always be encouraged very early on to register as it would generate the much needed seed funds, enthusiasm and momentum as it has done for Dallas and as it did 10 years ago for the very successful UNAA Boston. We need to realize that the Diaspora community has grown and changed, people have options on where to go during the labor day weekend, among other trips and conventions throughout the year. The earlier we interest and lock them in, the more successful we shall be. The model that you begin aggressively advertizing after January, after the rates begin going up is flawed.
4) My leadership will reform UNAA's refund policy by eliminating refunds and replacing them with transfers and postponements as well as instituting limits on when one can claim transfers and postponements. For example, if you have registered for UNAA Dallas 2013 and can no longer make it, UNAA can postpone your registration to San Diego 2014, for the same benefits and at no cost to you, or the Association will find someone who can buy that registration from you for 100%. The current policy is very informal, and rarely implemented and with UNAA's poor record keeping in the past, we have people from Chicago 2009 still asking for refunds, and there is no way of telling if they received those refunds in the previous years. This makes financial planning very cumbersome and has contributed to UNAA's financial woes in the past considering money is spent almost as soon as people register.
At the end it is UNAA's debt, it is our debt, and it won't matter whose decision or vote it was to go to the Philadelphia Marriott, even though it is very important that the UNAA Members know how decisions are being made in their Association and the positions of their leaders in such matters. That's democracy.
As soon as the vote for the Philadelphia Marriott took place, I moved on and I poured my heart into making it a very successful convention and we had a big group from Dallas travel to Philadelphia to welcome people to Dallas the following year.
As a presidential candidate, and Chairman of the Dallas Convention, I have moved past the current debt on whose responsibility it was to go to the Philadelphia Marriott, because it is now UNAA's debt; and I am once again pouring my heart out to ensure the success of the Dallas convention as well as propose solutions to pay off our debt, and to never ever leave a convention with debt.
That's my pledge to you!
www.unaa2013.org
--
Brian Kwesiga
UNAA Presidential Candidate, 2013
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