SCRM lost our longtime Treasurer last spring. We have supposedly found a replacement after much hunting, but internal politics are threatening to cause problems.

I'm curious how other organizations handle the job of Treasurer. Being Treasurer of our organization is way more involved than what your average garden club or Rotary club Treasurer normally does -- it's really a full-time job.

Matt - good luck solving your political problems.

It might be worth your while to investigate accountants trade groups for recently retired accountants who are not members and have no vested political interest, and see if one may be willing to volunteer. Columbia might be a place to look, Winnsboro is a bit small to have such professional organizations in place. Some time spent defining the job and a realistic set of expectations in terms of what time commitments disinterested partries may be willing to make would be helpful, before starting to search.

Sounds like it might be time for SCRM to think about reinvention again. That can be painful, but necessary from time to time. A growing freight business and collection requires greater levels of professionalism and a businesslike rather than social POV.

Best wishes.

dave

I assume you have also thought about the costs of Officers Insurance and Bonding to protect the individual and the organization. Hard to attract a volunteer if he may in some way also be taking on a level of personal liability for his actions and decisions. This may be largely dependent on local and state laws.

Oh good, now you need to talk to a lawyer!

A qualified candidate will also expect 'systems' to be in place to allow him to effectively do his job - such as software, provisions for annual outside audits, etc. In a small museum environment the job might be little more than bookkeeper and someone to sign the checks. But that quickly escalates when you consider tax regulations and if you have even ONE paid employee (FICA, Workmens Comp, etc etc)

And you might also invest in an audit at this point to determine the health of the record system before someone new takes over this responsibility. Have a known starting point and define any changes or upgrades to prevent problems in the future.


Bob Kutella

Ideally, an organization of your size doesn't just need a treasurer, it needs a financial department/committee. Ideally the duties should be divided up so that one person makes the deposits, one person pays the bills and an independent person reconciles the bank statements and prepares the tax return material etc.

Assuming you have a CPA firm audit your books, you also should have an independent audit committee that acts as a go between between your board and the CPAs.

It would even be more ideal to have backups ('assistants') ready to step in so that you could avoid the type of situtation you're in now.

Bob H

You couldn't PAY me to be the treasurer of a railroad historical group-or any non-profit for that matter.

I say this from two perspectives:

First, I served as the treasurer for a local section of a large, national professional society. One of the things I learned is that there is absolutely
no connection between formal education and common sense.

Over the course of one year -one or more of our board members managed to a) throw away the cash receipts from our annual dinner and
b) let a sister organization default on a debt that was a rather large percentage of our annual 'stipend' from the parent group. No discipline-no
recriminations-nothing.

On the rr preservation side of things, I was always amazed at the enmity
displayed toward a certain person who happened to occupy the treasurers' position within a certain group. All the psychodrama that surrounded the various expenditures couldn't have been good for the mans' soul.

The irony is not only did he meter out the cash, he concurrently served as 99 % of the Sales Dept.

Moral of the story: The committee sounds like a great idea. Spread the wealth and the misery around.:-)