The Octavian Society was originally quite independent of The Augustan Society, Inc. It shared an Executive Director, and it would not be surprising to learn that their publications were produced at Augustan Society Headquarters, but there was no official link between the two.
The impetus for the creation of the Octavian Society was an attempted takeover of The Augustan Society by a dissident group. The Society has suffered three such (to this writer's awareness), and this was the second and most serious. While turned aside, it gave Society principals cause for concern, as there was no way for a non-profit membership organization to prevent such a "takeover" if the majority of the members wished it. The Octavian Society was very deliberately foravoided incorporation and non-profitstatus, and not incorporated, but was run as a sole proprietorship by Rodney Hartwell. In this way, his control was certain.
The Octavian Society drew heavily from Augustan ranks, if perhaps biased toward those felt more trustworthy. Much good work was done, primarily through publication of the ''[[Journal of Ancient & Medieval Studies]]'' or ''JAMS'' as it was commonly called. Documentation hasn't yet been found, so it's unclear if there were profits, and if those went to the Augustan Society or just into Hartwell pockets. Given that running The Augustan Society was not a secure source of income, one rather suspects the latter, which was entirely legal and proper.
A third option is for the Augustan Society to hire a strong Executive Director, weaken the Board to the point they only confirmed the Executive Director's contract each year, and pay the Executive Director a percentage of gross revenue. It is not clear that even a hefty percentage would be enough to attract a qualified person.
This brief history shows that there are a number of ways of managing the goals of The Augustan Society tried over the years, and perhaps more yet to be tried. Time will tell if current operating practice is optimal, or even sufficient.
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