[Talk] AUUG'S Declining Membership

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Thursday, 25 July 2002 at 17:07:03 +1000, Steve Jenkin wrote:
> David Purdue wrote:
>>
>> A quick reply from the outgoing President.
>> david.newall at auug.org.au wrote:
>>
>>>  o Can we afford a business manager?
>>
>> I contend that we can not afford to NOT have a business manager.
>> It is hard enough to find volunteers for the things that Liz can
>> not do - harder still to get them to do the things they volunteered
>> for.  If we did not have Liz, I believe they would end up not
>> being done.  Our alternative is to hire a secretariate - but we
>> lose control, then we lose quality, then we lose members.
>
> In all the chat I didn't see anyone provide the facts of the Business
> Manager employment contract.
>
> 1. Is Liz a permanent or casual employee?

She's permanent.  David (Newall) mentioned that in the original
message.

> 2. What is noted in the annual accounts for the yearly cost of
> running the office?

It's published in the AUUGN every year.  I'd prefer not to answer this
question on an open list, but it's in the low end of the range that
David Newall mentioned.

> 3. Are there employment incentives for her to increase our business?

Yes.

> SAGE-AU uses Lee Monette to run the place.  She works from home -
> [she provides the work space], and works at an hourly rate.

AUUG uses Liz Carroll to run the place.  She works from home - [she
provides the work space], and works on a salary.  

I'm not sure what that comparison was intended to imply, but to make
things clear:

1.  More than anybody else, Liz Carroll *is* AUUG.  We can elect new
    members of the board of directors, but Liz is the only person who
    really works hard for AUUG.
2.  Liz has enough work to keep her going full-time.  Much of this
    work is independent of the number of members.  If we were to cut
    her working hours, AUUG would suffer.
3.  Yes, she costs real money.  She does real work.
4.  I'm sure I speak for the entire board when I say that I'm happy
    with the work she does.  I can't see any reason for wanting to
    think about alternative people who also charge real money.  Even
    if we found somebody who claimed to be able to do Liz's work for
    free, we would be very sceptical that the money we saved would be
    worthwhile.

None of this means that we're not trying to save money.  That very
much includes Liz.  If our membership continues to decline, we'll be
forced to do something, but that would not be good for AUUG.

Greg
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