[Artemisia] Fwd: [Announcements] Newsletter Production Stipends

[Allen Hall]

"This will reduce the overall stipend for mailings and production by 60%." 

OK.  I don't see any reason to totally do away with printed newsletters.  I do believe that the vast majority of folks will go with the e-newsletters.  Good for them.  I also believe that some folks will prefer the printed version.  I suspect that this will be a small group, probably no more than 20% of the sustaining members getting a newsletter now.  That being the case, the 40% the Kingdom will receive from Society will more than cover the expenses.

Cases where a household, with more than one sustaining member, received multiple copies of the Sage, will go away.  This too, will reduce costs of the production.

This seems to be something that can be easily accomplished, and works out for "both" sides of the issue (pun intended).

How's that work out for ya?

Alan


> Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:54:31 -0700
> From: rachael.emborg at gmail.com
> To: artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org
> Subject: [Artemisia] Fwd: [Announcements] Newsletter Production Stipends
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Leslie Luther-Fulton <janefalada at hotmail.com>
> Date: Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 11:43 AM
> Subject: [Announcements] Newsletter Production Stipends
> To: sca Announcements <announcements at sca.org>
> 
> 
>  Due to external economic conditions and increased overall costs facing the
> SCA Inc., the Board of Directors and senior staff have been forced to make
> over $250,000 in cost cutting measures to the 2011 budget in order to ensure
> continued operations.
> 
> 
> 
> The largest recurring expense for the SCA at the corporate level is the
> stipend payments made to the Kingdoms for publishing hardcopy newsletters.  As
> our modern society moves increasingly away from hardcopy publishing to
> electronic mediums, the costs of hardcopy publishing have increased
> proportionally. Based on the need to curb these costs, and the responses of
> the membership in the 2010 census, the Board of Directors believes it is
> essential to the continued financial health of the SCA to transition the
> organization away from paper newsletters. Accordingly, the SCA has initiated
> a project to transition all kingdoms to e-newsletters, and is projecting
> implementation by Jan 1, 2012. Until the SCA has the infrastructure in place
> to support e-newsletters, the 2011 stipend amount provided by the corporate
> level for production assistance will be reduced to cover only those aspects
> required by the governing documents. This will reduce the overall stipend
> for mailings and production by 60%. The Board of Directors greatly regrets
> the necessity of making these changes to the stipend structure, but feels
> that it is the best of an array of difficult options to execute its
> fiduciary responsibility to the membership of the organization.
> 
> 
> 
> This means that postage will still be covered for all mailing classes,
> including the expected postal rate increase later this year, but the
> production stipend will be greatly reduced.  Most components of newsletter
> production costs are controlled at the Kingdom level, including newsletter
> size, use of color printing, page count due to non-required information, and
> printing companies utilized. Thus, Kingdom Chroniclers have several tools at
> their disposal to lessen the impact of the stipend decrease. To further
> mitigate the financial impact to the Kingdoms, the following changes in
> required inclusions will be effective with April 2011 newsletters:
> 
>    - Membership forms will no longer be required to be published
>    - The list of Board of Director nominees will no longer be required to be
>    published
>    - Full Society regnum will no longer be required to be published.  Contact
>    information for the Kingdom Ombudsman must still be included.
>    - A statement indicating where to locate the additional information on
>    www.sca.org and/or Kingdom websites will be required to be published.
> 
> 
> 
> As additional reminders, branch event announcements are only required to be
> published for the month in which the event occurs.  Should the branch event
> occur in the first week of the month, publication in only the prior month is
> acceptable.  Please refer to the Chronicler’s Handbook for the minimum event
> information required for publication.
> 
> 
> 
> The Society Chronicler has information available for the printing house in
> TN (USA) that several Kingdoms have already been utilizing for more
> cost-effective printing and mailing services.
> 
> 
> 
> Fundraising that is specifically done for the purpose of newsletter
> publication is still allowed, but (as always) is at the discretion of the
> Kingdoms.
> 
> 
> 
> The Board of Directors, SCA, Inc. greatly appreciates the time and effort
> put into newsletters produced at all levels of the organization  and is
> committed to implementing a financially responsible process to provide
> information to the membership by a blend of electronic and hardcopy media.
> 
> 
> 
> Comments are strongly encouraged and can be sent to:
> SCA Inc.
> Box 360789
> Milpitas,  CA 95036
> 
> You may also email comments at lists.sca.org.
> 
> This announcement is an official informational release by the Society for
> Creative Anachronism , Inc.  Permission is granted to reproduce this
> announcement in its entirety in newsletters, websites and electronic mailing
> lists.
> 
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