Region 3 Regional Notes/Report

Notes/Report: DATE: April 20, 2006 - Exec Report to Regional meeting 5/1/06 NYSFAAA Executive Report to Region 3 Meeting held in Lake Placid April 20-21, 2006 1)IMPORTANT Fall 2006 Conference Information The Fall 2006 Conference will be held in Lake Placid November 6-9 2006. This conference will have a registration cap of 500 regular attendees and 50 day trippers. Vendors will be capped at 47. Although there are plenty of sleeping rooms through out the village the space crunch comes from the Dinning and meeting capabilities. Please be aware that the cap, do not delay when the registration information is posted. Registration will happen through the NYSFAAA website. This conference will fall over election time and you will need to request an absentee ballot from your local election board. 2)Region 3 is scheduled to host the 2008 conference at the Turning Stone. Based on the conversations at the last Region 3 meeting and the feelings of the co-chairs of the 2008 conference I asked Exec Council to allow the Conference co-chairs to explore a Plan B as far as new location and when that was identified to be allowed to break the contract with the Turning Stone. Bill Cheetham had already sent a letter to the Executive Council explaining why we were requesting a change. The motion that passed: Council gives Region 3 permission to explore a Plan B site with Don Taylor’s research and that the region comes back to Council with recommendations at the June meeting” a friendly amendment was added that reads “Council is not giving approval at this time to cancel the contract with the Turning Stone”. 3) The NYSFAAA treasurer is requesting that the Regions develop budgets for the upcoming year. Per the President’s recent clarification email “it has come to the attention of the Executive Council that some NYSFAAA regions have been soliciting donations from vendors (Associate Members) for regional events. This poses dangers to the organization’s not-for-profit status and raises issues related to the IRS and our tax exempt status. Therefore, the Policy and Procedures manual has been updated to clarify and reinforce the long-standing policy that regional fundraising is prohibited. All solicitations of sponsorship must be made at the statewide level in our annual solicitation and processed through the state treasury. This allows the Executive Council to ensure the appropriateness of all fundraising, perform proper annual tax reporting, and maintain accounting/internal control. All regional events should be funded solely from the regional treasury and/or a nominal charge to event participants members). Regional treasuries shall be funded exclusively by replenishment from the statewide treasury and charges to event participants. The Council recognizes that many regions have relied on local solicitations for regional events, and we do not want to discourage regional training and professional development efforts in any way. Therefore, the following accommodations have been made: • The annual training allowance available to each region will be increased to $1,000 for 2006-2007. This is in addition to the $1,000/region available for support staff training, and the regular annual revenue sharing of $10 per region member. • A new sponsorship line for Regional Training will be added to our annual sponsorship solicitation. • Each Region will be asked to submit a projected budget for training needs that they expect to go beyond the means of their Regional budgets. • As always, if additional funding is needed for regional training events, the regional Executive Council Representative can bring written justification for additional funding to the Council for approval. Training is one of the most important aspects of our mission, and the Council is dedicated to providing appropriate resources for regional training events. • Regional leadership is reminded that all events funded by the treasury must have a purpose consistent with our mission. It is appropriate for NYSFAAA to pay for food and beverages, as long as the meeting/event has a legitimate purpose that is consistent with our mission. 4) New associate membership, per the President’s recent clarification email: the approval of a constitutional amendment at the Long Island Conference this past October, the Executive Council now has the authority to limit the Associate Membership. Such limitation is designed to ensure that all Associate Members are employed by entities that demonstrate shared values with NYSFAAA. Beginning immediately, applications for Associate Membership will only be accepted from individuals working for an approved employer. All entities currently employing Associate Members (already in the NYSFAAA database from (2005-2006) have been “approved” by the Executive Council, with the exception of certain “financial planning” firms. Effective immediately, new (not previously approved) employers will be subject to approval by the Executive Council prior to any application for Associate Membership. 5) NYSFAAA has received some seed funds from the Lumina foundation to fund the start-up of College Bowl Sunday activities in NY State. Wayne Harewood from KBCC will be the statewide chair. 6) Region 1 is doing an Admission Counselor’s workshop that sounds very interesting. Something we might want to consider. They requested funding for the event from Executive Council. Since they had enough funds in their treasury to cover the event, Council denied the request for additional funds. Council is in the belief that if a region has spent down then the Region should come to Council and request the funds. 7) I brought our concerns to Council about the increase in questionable Financial planners and the need for an informational packet that NYSFAAA would endorse that could be used at the High School level. I was charged with putting together a brochure and bringing it back to Council. Mike Williams from NY HESC volunteered to help. Respectfully submitted: Sharon Karwowski Region 3 NYSFAAA Executive Council Representative May 5, 2006 POSTED BY: Sharon Karwowski