Future of IPS (Leland's Post)

[_Keith]

Dear Palm Enthusiasts,

Over the last two weeks, there have been many contributions of thought on the IPS, its directors, and parts of PalmTalk. Some of the information was based on not understanding that the IPS, although a non-profit, operates like a regular business. Much of the background of how IPS is run can be found on www.Palms.org and how directors are elected.

Election is the easiest part but what makes the organization work, is contribution of time. In Thailand, when elected, I wanted to effect faster changes both in housekeeping and in the areas we could implement to stimulate new membership. The IPS is not sustainable in its current form since its expenses of publication, inventory, web support, PR, etc. runs an annual deficit of around $25,000 give or take. All directors have a fiduciary responsibility and role to play, which means we actually have to contribute to the work effort for generating new and innovative programs that can either reduce cost or generate profits to replace the operational costs of keeping IPS alive. We were fortunate that we did have some palm members and non-members who help build our endowment fund over the last 58 years but even that needs active management. Remember, the entire Board is volunteer work.

In the last few years, turnover and retiring directors have created some openings where new blood has been able to help effect the pace of change. Although there are openings for 32 Directors allotted by global territories based upon membership, we only have 30 of those spots filled and often, have to make decisions where we have many qualified candidates willing to contribute but no allocated slots. Becoming a director carries with it a time contribution commitment. When I became President, I re-defined 12 committees, each taking on a revenue producing or cost controlling area. Such decentralization moved much of the work from the Officer level to the more highly decentralized array of Directors. We even took on non-director contributors who were willing to help at the committee level. We need Directors who are willing to contribute their time and not just view our annual meetings to vote as their sole responsibility, someone had to do the proposal and costing work to be voted upon.

We have started to conduct more Board business by email vote but that is successful only for the topics that are well defined and where discussion is simple. Most other more detailed issues are reserved for face to face discussions at our annual Board meeting. Yes, in most all cases we have 23-26 directors showing up at these meetings at their own expense. Generally, Directors who cannot make any of the meetings, should consider what contributions they can make if they are not present to discuss the proposals or parts that cannot be resolved easily on email. Remember, IPS has evolved into an international organization, each area duly represented.

So, what are some of the changes being effected:

1. Our Financial records for a 501C were not in a form for measuring programs to improve benefits for members. In fact, we were barely keeping up for our timely tax filings to maintain our non-profit status. We are now on quarterly reporting, not only for the legal issues, but also serving as the yardstick for any new program voted upon and implemented, including the funding for PalmTalk.
2. Implementation of Flipbook for our Palm Journals. This is a starting effort for e-transmission of the Palm Journal that can also be translated into other languages. Long term, it is a much more cost effective way of dealing with production costs and Journals not received. This program has a transitional timetable.
3. We have embarked upon a coaching program since some directors manning the biennial and other venues need to provide a succession plan such that we do not have to re-invent the wheel every two years for the next Biennial. Such venues contribute to slowing down our financial drain rate.
4. The administrative committees handling the details are: Executive Committee (day to day decisions); PRAMM (Public Relations, Affiliate, Membership, and Marketing); Finance; Website; PalmTalk; Nominations; Risk Management; Endowment; Audit; Biennial 2014; Mid-term Directors Meeting 2015; and Biennial 2016.

I hope this sharing provides some insight to the responsibilities entrusted to your Board.

Leland

Leland,

Thanks for commenting here and sharing some of the behind the scenes actions you are taking. I applaud your leadership in seeing and addressing some critical issues that are coming to a head and need to be resolved.

Allow me to comment on your post.

"The IPS is not sustainable in its current form since its expenses of publication, inventory, web support, PR, etc. runs an annual deficit of around $25,000 give or take."

​Two of the main reasons for the existence of the IPS are Research and Education. Research is done, not by the IPS but by contributing plant scientists who are given an endowment for said research. That is all well and good and according to the IPS stated mission. Education, being the second most important role of the IPS, is conducted through the printing of Palms, the Biennials and through the web presence, mostly Palm Talk. Palm Talk, far and away is the much better tool for educating the public about palms. Personally, I find the Palms journal interesting but mostly very dry and hard to relate to my own growing experiences. It is of interest mostly to other botanists and reference libraries. The impression I get that the BOD has for Palm Talk is that it is the red headed step child they would rather not have to spend money and effort on when in fact it is one of the two most important reasons for the existence of the IPS.

"All directors have a fiduciary responsibility and role to play, which means we actually have to contribute to the work effort for generating new and innovative programs that can either reduce cost or generate profits to replace the operational costs of keeping IPS alive."

Yes, I agree completely. If there are Directors who have been on the board for years and have not really contributed, it is time they consider retiring and opening a spot for someone else. Of course there is the caveat of becoming too dependent on a particular board member's voluntary contributions and so you have to weigh the benefits of voluntary contributions vs paying a professional to perform those duties.

"We have started to conduct more Board business by email vote but that is successful only for the topics that are well defined and where discussion is simple. Most other more detailed issues are reserved for face to face discussions at our annual Board meeting. Yes, in most all cases we have 23-26 directors showing up at these meetings at their own expense. Generally, Directors who cannot make any of the meetings, should consider what contributions they can make if they are not present to discuss the proposals or parts that cannot be resolved easily on email. Remember, IPS has evolved into an international organization, each area duly represented. "

This is great and a step in the right direction. The Board should also explore Skype type meetings or regional venues where directors could assemble as a group to skype the BOD. For example all the California directors who could not go to a far off meeting might assemble in one place and skype as a group. As could the Australians, Europeans, Floridians etc. The point is that there is a tremendous pool of talent that could be on the Board but are excluded because they cannot attend far off meetings.

Our Financial records for a 501C were not in a form for measuring programs to improve benefits for members. In fact, we were barely keeping up for our timely tax filings to maintain our non-profit status. We are now on quarterly reporting, not only for the legal issues, but also serving as the yardstick for any new program voted upon and implemented, including the funding for PalmTalk."

Keeping up with IRS regulations is a tremendous task that I do not envy. Keep up the good work.

Implementation of Flipbook for our Palm Journals. This is a starting effort for e-transmission of the Palm Journal that can also be translated into other languages. Long term, it is a much more cost effective way of dealing with production costs and Journals not received. This program has a transitional timetable."

This is excellent. It will be cheaper, more readable by people who don't speak English and there should be a greater ability to post photos.

"We have embarked upon a coaching program since some directors manning the biennial and other venues need to provide a succession plan such that we do not have to re-invent the wheel every two years for the next Biennial. Such venues contribute to slowing down our financial drain rate."

Excellent continuity plan.

"The administrative committees handling the details are: Executive Committee (day to day decisions); PRAMM (Public Relations, Affiliate, Membership, and Marketing); Finance; Website; PalmTalk; Nominations; Risk Management; Endowment; Audit; Biennial 2014; Mid-term Directors Meeting 2015; and Biennial 2016."

I will try to keep this criticism mostly constructive. the PRAMM committee sounds good but honestly I see zero results in Public Relations and Marketing. Outside of our own palm bubble, absolutely nobody knows of the existence of the IPS. The Website and Palm Talk should be one thing and more resources should be expended on them. I have questions on Nominations but will address them to that committee. Risk Management- I think, on the whole that the IPS BOD is way too risk averse. The BOD sees risk in everything, to such a point that they seem to be frozen into inaction.

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On the whole, and I will speak only for myself, I love the IPS but there are huge improvements to be made, and especially in regards to Palm Talk. We constantly hear of improvements that will occur in the near future, re: communications etc, but the only thing we see are posts deleted from the special IPS member's area. The BOD meeting minutes have still not been published so we can only guess at what happened there. We never hear from ANY BOD members other than the ones who have always posted here on Palm Talk. (special exceptions and thanks to John Dransfield and Elena Beare.) Not everyone has the personality of BGL, but I would think that the President of IPS could bring himself to post on Palm Talk more than twice in a year.

To summarize, the IPS is not an exclusive travel club for well heeled BOD members but an everyman's entre into the world of Palms. Palm Talk is not just an expensive annoyance, it is one of the reasons for the existence of the International Palm Society.

After Jerry's thoughtful and excellent post, I thought it might be a good time to start this conversation anew. My response to the initial post will be coming later today. In the meantime, others feel free to give a go a thoughtful and meaningful response to Leland's post. And again, thank you Jerry for inspiring this thread rebirth.

[waykoolplantz]

As I have stated earlier...the IPS needs to understand the value..both to it's stated mission and it's income...of developing and marketing the IPS as a brand.

I'm surprised with all the smarter-than-your-average-bear IT experts that digital tele-conferences haven't been employed for some board meetings. Travel costs would be replaced with a technology cost...but only once.

[palmmermaid]

This option has been offered up by several people here - me, included. I have a feeling this will not happen until all of the older, less technical BOD members have died or are no longer on the board.

[spockvr6]

As I have stated earlier...the IPS needs to understand the value..both to it's stated mission and it's income...of developing and marketing the IPS as a brand.

I'm surprised with all the smarter-than-your-average-bear IT experts that digital tele-conferences haven't been employed for some board meetings. Travel costs would be replaced with a technology cost...but only once.

Although I am not an IPS member, I would guess that part of the reason that someone would volunteer to be a director/board member is that travelling to such locales is part of the fun that makes it worthwhile.

[bgl]

Actually, non-Board members (who are IPS members) can also travel to these places where we have the Interim BOD meetings, and they have always been welcome to sit in on the BOD meetings, if they so desire.

[LilikoiLee]

Thank you for your excellently expressed, fairly balanced, accurate, logical and insightful post. I hope everyone on PT reads it.

Lee

[LilikoiLee]

Actually, non-Board members (who are IPS members) can also travel to these places where we have the Interim BOD meetings, and they have always been welcome to sit in on the BOD meetings, if they so desire.

Actually, non-Board members (who are IPS members) can also travel to these places where we have the Interim BOD meetings, and they have always been welcome to sit in on the BOD meetings, if they so desire.

Aloha Bo-Göran,

Not too long ago a BOD member told me that ONLY board members were allowed to go on the tours that are part of the interim BOD meetings, so it is a relief to hear that that isn't the case. I agree that the tours are fun (and as someone recently told me I could go to those places on my own), but 50% of enjoying the tour is being able to learn from and share the experience with other palm lovers.

Lee

[_Keith]

Figuring out the true cost of PalmTalk is impossible as there is no way today to determine which membership dues (offsetting revenues) are a result of people joining IPS to support PalmTalk and/or finding out about IPS (marketing cost, not PT costs.)

There are two solutions worth discussion.

1) Simple ask the question at the time of joining on the membership form.

a - How did you find out about IPS

b - Are you joining IPS to support PalmTalk.

2) Offer a PalmTalk only membership. In other words, a slightly reduced membership witch forgoes the printed copy of Palms. I brought this up years ago, but was summarily dismissed at that time. Perhaps we are in a new frame of mind, today.

Neither will be terribly accurate at this time, but will at least provide more information than is currently available. And with membership shrinkage, I cannot help but believe that the majority of new memberships are arriving via PalmTalk.

[bgl]

Keith, I think a new look at pretty much everything would, and should, be a refreshing approach. All in favor of that!

Lee, as I mentioned in another thread (beginning to lose track of the various threads now... ), IPS members, who are not Directors, have always been welcome to sit in on the Board meeting. By extension that also means they can be part of the Interim meetings we have on odd years. For instance, in Tenerife in 2011 we had about ten IPS members from mainland Spain who were part of the activities, and they were of course not Directors. In Peru last month there were no IPS members present who were not also Directors (or spouses/partners). I understand that a few people who enquired about participating were told they could not attend and that the event was for Directors only. This is not correct. True, Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica, where we stayed, has a very limited number of accomodations, but I saw quite a few guests there who were NOT IPS related. Since we knew the dates and the location for this BOD meeting a year in advance I have to assume that Inkaterra could easily have accomodated a few more IPS people, even non Directors, if reservations had been made well in advance. I find this mis-communication, or however we refer to it, very unfortunate and hopefully it won't happen again. There have always been relatively few guests sitting in on our BOD meetings, and I believe those who are interested in doing so should be given all the encouragement they can get.

Bo-Göran

EDIT - found a couple of mistakes after I had posted. I have corrected them now (I think!) so please read again.

[LilikoiLee]

Keith, I think a new look at pretty much everything would, and should, be a refreshing approach. All in favor of that!

Lee, as I mentioned in another thread (beginning to lose track of the various threads now... ), IPS members, who are not Directors, have always been welcome to sit in on the Board meeting. By extension that also means they can be part of the Interim meetings we have on odd years. For instance, in Tenerife in 2011 we had about ten IPS members from mainland Spain who were part of the activities, and they were of course not Directors. In Peru last month there were no IPS members present who were not also Directors (or spouses/partners). I understand that a few people who enquired about participating were told they could not attend and that the event was for Directors only. This is not correct. True, Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica, where we stayed, has a very limited number of accomodations, but I saw quite a few guests there who were NOT IPS related. Since we knew the dates and the location for this BOD meeting a year in advance I have to assume that Inkaterra could easily have accomodated a few more IPS people, even non Directors, if reservations had been made well in advance. I find this mis-communication, or however we refer to it, very unfortunate and hopefully it won't happen again. There have always been relatively few guests sitting in on our BOD meetings, and I believe those who are interested in doing so should be given all the encouragement they can get.

Bo-Göran

EDIT - found a couple of mistakes after I had posted. I have corrected them now (I think!) so please read again.

Bo-Goren

Mike and I were really pleased with that information and feel others will be encouraged as well.

Lee

[LJG]

Bo, is it true Madagascar is the BOD meeting after Miami? I bet a few non-board members show up for that if true

[bgl]

Oh Len, come on, you're going to put me on the spot here!? I thought you knew, this is supposed to be a secret for 60 days. At least, those are the orders! So, let's just say that I don't see anything in any of your recent posts that would appear to be an inaccurate statement or assumption.

[LJG]

Haha. Ok. The ironic thing is I got this 'rumor' from a non-Board member from another country!

[bgl]

I am absolutely shocked! I thought we were running a tight ship here. I sure hope there will be serious consequences following such a serious breach of confidentiality!

[Mandrew968]

I am absolutely shocked! I thought we were running a tight ship here. I sure hope there will be serious consequences following such a serious breach of confidentiality!

I heard there was talk of the Seychelles too, but I listen to too many little birds...

[Moose]

I am absolutely shocked! I thought we were running a tight ship here. I sure hope there will be serious consequences following such a serious breach of confidentiality!

I heard there was talk of the Seychelles too, but I listen to too many little birds...