Chairman's Report

One of the most difficult tasks is reporting to the membership on the state of affairs within the organization when they are not where we would like them to be. However, the fall was a trying period for the IJA.

Our secretary/treasurer, Tom Bennett, resigned due to personal reasons in early October after accepting the joint position last summer. We discovered the hard way that it is impossible for an individual to hold down a full time job and keep up with the work required as IJA secretary and treasurer.

Accordingly, I cannot report to our membership at the time of this writing, November 23, 1992, on the financial situation of the organization, as we have not had an updated financial statement since the Montreal Festival. I am quite certain that by the time you read this, however, things will be back on track.

There is some good news.  It took less than a week to find a new secretary/treasurer. Richard Dingman received unanimous approval from the Board of Directors in mid-October. Richard has been working overtime to catch up on matters left undone prior to the transition, and making changes to ensure the organization runs smoothly from here on in.

Once Richard has updated our membership records and financial data to make sure we are on firm financial footing, we plan to make the Roster our number one priority. IJA operations should run smoothly once the transition is complete. Three of our four main paid positions are now in one location - Montague, Mass. - which will not only save a lot of money, but will make the IJA a much more efficiently run organization. Orders will be processed in less than half the time it took in the past and the office phone will be answered during regular business hours. Make note of our new address -  Montague MA.

We have also been concerned about our Life Member Fund. We have identified serious mistakes made in the past and taken measures to correct the situation. Beside borrowing $25,000 from the Life Member Fund to pay for the LA Festival, additional life membership money received was put into the general account of the IJA and used for the daily running of the organization. All Life Membership money will be kept in a designated separate account from now on to assure that this will not happen again.

Included in this issue is a letter from Norman Schneiderman, our chief administrative officer, with background information on the LME

Our new system of the CAO and employees making the day-to-day decisions for the organization appears to be working well. When problems arise, no longer must the decision to act wait for a board meeting. The employees and CAO communicate regularly with me and have my complete confidence in smoothing out a difficult start to the year. Ideally, all those working for the IJA should be in one central location. Even with today's modern communication networks, working together while living thousands of miles apart is a difficult job.

The Board of Directors held one conference call on October 12, 1992. A review of business conducted during that meeting is also included below. I suggest you call or write board members directly regarding issues within their portfolios, a list of which can be found at the end of this letter.

I requested that all directors submit one­and three-year goals for publication in this issue of Jugglers World.  These are the ones I received:

Perry Rubenfeld, Chairman of the Board:

One-year goals - To continue to be accountable to our membership and report regularly to them on the status of the organization; to maintain open communication with our membership through Jugglers World, the Clubs and Affiliates Newsletter, E-mail, phone, fax and post mail; to seek out new areas of financing/grants/sponsorships for the IJA; to ensure that all board members carry out their duties and responsibilities; to see that all resolutions of the Board of Directors are carried out; to be the liaison between the Chief Administrative Officer, employees and the Board of Directors.

Three year goals - To see a marked reduction in the amount owed to the Life Member Fund; to have better communication between the IJA and other worldwide juggling organizations.

Jek Kelly, Affiliate Director: One-year goals - To help coordinate and maintain the