My president's message delivered on Friday, June 7, at the opening general session of our 85th birthday conference/convention, has been tidied up a bit and revised where original remarks are no longer relevant.
The famous actress Betty Davis said it best: "Getting old isn't for sissies!"
I'd like to suggest the same could be said for organizations. The California Council of the Blind was born October 6, 1934: where? Right here in Fresno!
The childhood years saw growth and expansion. We fought for the most basic rights: the right to walk on public streets and sidewalks, resulting in The White Cane Law; rights for college students to have readers; fair housing and basic voting rights.
A lot more growth occurred during our middle years: at one time we had nearly 1,500 members and numerous chapters. Our advocacy and scholarship efforts blossomed. We had over a million dollars in the bank!
Alas, our elder years have seen increasing financial hardships. When I assumed the presidency, in 2016, we had about $250,000 in unencumbered funds.
Based on a recommendation in our original strategic plan, weeks after I assumed office, we hired a CEO who among other things, we hoped would bring in major funding. In a word, that didn't happen.
Since I last reported to you at our 2018 conference/convention, our financial situation has deteriorated dramatically.
For starters, our financial records were in disarray, so we literally didn't know how much money we had. Next, we embarked on a desperate, risky effort and hired a consulting firm to create a mechanism to contact large donors in the Sacramento area. We finally cancelled both the lunch where those donors would hopefully show up, and then the contract for the consultants. At the end of last year, we released our CEO.
Frankly financially-speaking, we hit bottom with only a few thousand dollars remaining. But remember, CCB ain't no sissy! We are on the road to recovery!
Starting her term on July 1, 2018, our fabulous treasurer Lisa Thomas with her strong accounting background, has been wrestling with our tangled financial records. She and our office manager Nicole Pacheco are updating our QuickBooks system; where records need to be reconciled for the past 2 to 3 years. We have already saved hundreds in accounting costs because Lisa, fully aware of legal parameters, prepares our monthly and quarterly financial documents. We are planning for an audit this year at a cost far below the $10,000 we used to spend.
Just last night, (at its meeting of June 6) the board adopted a massively- trimmed down budget. Where we routinely had a budges of around $300,000 dollars with exaggerated calculations for income and distorted numbers for expenditures, this year's budget scales back spending. As the saying goes, we are pinching pennies so hard you can hear them scream! We have projected little in terms of fundraising efforts: that way we should bring in more than we in fact plan for.
Last November, I proposed forming a committee to advise us on how CCB can move forward. Our 1st VP Gabe Griffith christened it with the name which has stuck: the Phoenix Committee: as like that mythical bird, we rise from the ashes. A kind of "think tank," this committee has proved amazingly valuable to me personally and of course to the entire organization.
Thanks to those 9 members, we have created a resource manual so members can answer phones relieving Nicole of that responsibility. We began this process on May 1; while Nicole was on vacation, with Steve bauer, Andrea deKlotz and Christy Crespin answered phones. We plan to continue and expand this effort.
Because this year's convention finished in the black and was deemed so successful, the Convention Planning Committee recommended and the board moved to hold our traditional in-person convention. As of this writing, I have signed a contract with the Doubletree Hotel in Fresno to hold our 2020 convention June 3-7. We may attempt linking to local facilities to allow others to participate.
Other cost-cutting measures have been adopted such as seeking an entity to sublease part of our office. Only our official legislative advocates are reimbursed for their costs if they so request"which they often don't. And this year I am taking no reimbursement for my expenses.
For the first time, we sent out an appeal letter to our extended mailing list and raised several thousand dollars. We will expand this effort as well as pursuing other fundraising efforts including our telephonic auction.
For the past 2 years we have been in discussion with Patrick Netter founder of Onthemuv, creator of the mini seated-treadmill. We are on track to be their North American distributor of this device to the blindness community. A number of our members experienced the seated minitreadmill when Patrick demonstrated it in the Obbie Shoeman Exhibit Hall.
One of Paul Shane's final efforts paid off in the form of a grant from Energy Upgrade California to inform folks about the time-of-use program. Our recently-hired community educator, James Collins, the replacement for Duane Poole who left us at the end of April is hard at work and has already increased our grant goal numbers. Welcome James! This grant helps defray some of our overhead costs this year.
We may not have a lot of money in the bank, but we are rich in people to thank. The danger here is leaving too many people out for which I apologize in advance. First, the amazing host committee, our Fresno Chapter under the leadership of that crazy blind lady, Sarah Harris! Your hard-working board of directors devotes hours to CCB giving of their time, talent and treasure. Nicole Pacheco is increasingly valuable as our Operations Manager; thanks so much Nicole! A special shout-out to our TOG for all its work especially Phill Obregon for his heroic efforts in so speedily getting all things convention on our website. All our committees work hard for CCB: we are rich because of your efforts. I would be remiss if I didn't thank my husband Steve for his love and support.
No, getting old isn't for sissies! CCB, in its old age, because of the adversities we've faced, will emerge stronger than ever! As Sarah Harris quoted Robert Schuler in her candidate's statement:
"Problems are not stop signs; they are guidelines."
So here we are at 85, old but not enfeebled. As we stabilize our finances and renew our organization, we are recommitting ourselves with vigor and purpose, to those efforts that have always been the hallmark of our existance: Advocacy in the legislature and the courts, service to our members in identifying and overcoming the barriers to equality and full participation in society. These have always been the core CCB values; these are the reasons we exist, and these are the reasons why, like the phoenix, we are rising.
Thank you.
