So how much do the board members of LNA get paid? Oh, they're volunteers.
Wouldn't it be crazy to put the responsibility of a $400,000+ budget in
the hands of a board president, a single person, working nights and
weekends without pay? Anyone who has served or is serving on the LNA
Board of Directors knows that there's 12 seats on the board and 4 seats
on the executive committee.
Projects submitted by community residents in search of funding must
first submit a project plan to the appropriate committee then to the
board meeting and then to the general membership meeting.
So, if the neighborhood association wants to pay their water bill, they
have to go through each of these three steps to seek approval? How does
anything get done? Please direct your attention to the job description
for the Executive Director of the Lyndale Neighborhood Association:
http://www.lyndale.org/lna/jobs/lnajob.html
Now look at item number two under responsibilities.
Responsibilities:
2. Executive Administration
* Financial management, including developing and monitoring the annual
budget
* Support Steering Committee's monthly meetings and the neighborhood's
General Membership meetings
* Ensure that organization fulfills its legal fiduciary duties and
contract administration
The Executive Director, the Board of Directors and the Executive
Committee work together in appropriate capacities to ensure that the day
to day and long term business of LNA is handled appropriately.
I understand that the LNA is a nationally recognized neighborhood
organization that provides many community events and services. Where
does it get the money to do those things? Please refer back to the job
description for the Executive Director, item number four.
4 Fundraise
* Secure resources necessary to meet neighborhood and organizational
goals, including grant writing
* Direct fundraising for organization, including building and
maintaining relationships with funders and looking for creative
partnerships to achieve joint goals.
That sounds like a lot of work. Writing grants, building relationships
with funders. Can't LNA just get all of its money from NRP?
The McKnight Foundation
http://www.mcknight.org/grantsprograms/grantee_results.aspx?desc_keyword=&page=4&prog_area_1=Region%20and%20Communities
The Otto Bremer Foundation
http://fdncenter.org/grantmaker/bremer/pr_gr01_09.html
Community Foundation Silicon Valley
http://www.cfsv.org/enewsletter2/vol22_2.html
These and many other foundations have contributed money to the Lyndale
Neighborhood Association for operations, youth programs, and supportive
services among other things.
What's all this I hear about a "missing" $80,000? Where did the money
go? Seeing a dollar amount in red ink with a minus sign in front of it
might be alarming. It has been stated in this forum a couple of times
that the "Changes in Fund Balance" amount of -$82,023 did not come from
NRP. Here's a quote from a letter by Michael Wilson, the CPA who audited
the financial statements of LNA:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg41124.html
The LNA was engaged in activities that a major funding source, the
Minneapolis NRP, chose not to fund. While these activities appeared to
be consistent with the LNAs overall mission, they were not consistent
with the NRP's contracts.
Here's a quote from the letter posted by the list manager addressed to
Wendy Pareene. It is a response to her letter of February 10, 2003:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg41093.html
As has been explained to you on several occasions, due to disagreements
that arose in 2000 about the way that staff time should be accounted for
and reimbursed, NRP declined to reimburse LNA for a sum of approximately
$83,000.
Some LNA staff worked some hours, put in some time and got paid but when
LNA went to NRP, one of their funding sources, to cover this expense NRP
said no? That's what appears to have happened. Staff time may be
accounted for in a budget under operations or supportive services. Since
the money LNA was hoping to get from NRP did not come it had to come
from other sources.
So if NRP didn't give LNA this money, how did LNA cover this staff time?
$457,351 fiscal 02 revenue
-$428,357 fiscal 02 expenses
----------------------------
$ 28,994 fiscal 02 excess
$209,954 fund balance at beginning of year 02
-$156,925 fund balance at the end of year 02
----------------------------
$ 53,029 difference
+$ 28,994 fiscal 02 excess
----------------------------
$ 82,023
According to information provided in this forum, LNA was hoping for
money to pay its staff. They didn't get it from NRP as previously
planned so they had to get it from somewhere else. That's a change in
fund balance. In fiscal 02 there were three paid positions at LNA
totaling $122,519 for salary, benefits and payroll taxes. These are
people putting in long hours to make the Lyndale community a better,
safer, more beautiful and inclusive place to live and work. They
coordinate meetings and events.
They work on writing grant proposals so foundations will fund
neighborhood groups like La Posada and events like the Somali Ramadan
festival. They translate the Common Sense monthly newspaper and General
Membership meetings. They retain a level of expertise that exists from
year to year so that a program like Youth Farm can exist for nearly 10
years, some participants now serving as group leaders.
They help volunteers like me revitalize a tried and true program, the
Lyndale Walkers, so residents can take a proactive step in keeping their
community safe.
--
Scott Moore
Lyndale
612.791.2333
Happy Accident Productions, LLC
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