<li>Our membership is small but stable, with significant losses over the past few years of inactivity. As of this writing, we have a total of 98 members, of which there are 74 Regular, 20 Life, and 4 Honorary (Associate) members. (Nine of the Life members have not been heard from lately, thus their status is in question.) That said, applications have resumed, with 5 new members and 2 reinstatements accepted to date. Our Internet presence has contributed markedly to these new members.</li>
<li>Our finances are presently stable, with good potential for long-term growth.
<ol type="i. ">The investment of about $200,000 as an endowment will provide for all of the Society's fixed costs. Adjustments will be necessary and will be made as needed to keep up with increased costs and varying returns.</li> ii. <li>The “building fund” stands at about $60,000 at this point, and is being managed a bit more aggressively than our endowment for long-term growth.</li> iii. <li>Working funds amount to about $24,000. This is higher than we would prefer, but with possible capital expenditures and multi-year purchases (such as insignia) in the offing, we have chosen to maintain this level at least until next August.</li> iv. <li>Matching price to cost of goods and services will permit all programs to be self-supporting (after unfunded liabilities are discharged). The market appears willing to bear the fair cost of our offerings. Note please that our normal prices are designed to have a 50% markup, except for subscriptions which are priced at cost presently—something we should probably look at.</li> v. <li>The “unfunded liabilities” mentioned above are those obligations we have taken on without preserving the funds to provide them. This includes obvious issues like unfilled subscriptions, but also less obvious matters such as members who paid dues during the interregnum, but for whom we may not have received the funds. It is to cover these liabilities and other transition expenses that we are conducting this year's Annual Fund Raiser. Should we ever obtain the missing financial records, it may be possible to put a solid price on these costs, and the Annual Fund Raiser target may be adjusted based on that value.</li></ol></li>
<li>Our collections are secure, but remain at small risk from environmental challenges. They are housed in an air-conditioned building, but conditions are not archival and humidity in particular varies more than we should prefer. Most museum artifacts deserve proper packaging, especially the paintings, and some books need rebinding.</li>
<li>Our publications represent a major challenge. We presently have but limited copy to publish, especially for the specialty publications. We have thus initiated a return to Omnibus publication (in concept, not in size or frequency). Our goal is—and must be—to return The Augustan Omnibus to a quarterly frequency, even if it means limiting each issue to the size of recent Augustans (36pp., including covers). Current subscription prices appear sufficient to print 36-page magazines similar to the last issue, but not to cover fixed production costs. Significant increases in page count would require a price increase (or a major jump in advertising revenue).</li>
<li>All needed software and support for the in-house systems have been obtained free. Linux operating systems and open source software are the standard approach; to date, no needed task has been identified that requires paid software, and none such is expected. The one exception is the possible use of one Windows-based machine as a print server for obsolete printers.</li>
<li>New web site:
<ol type="i. ">The web site is online and generating both interest and revenue.</li> ii. <li>Online contact has generated 100% of all sales and non-member subscriptions, and the vast majority of all membership renewals and first contacts with new members to date.</li> iii. <li>A members-only section will be delayed until at least August 2008 while we complete work on the phases installed to date. There remains much work to do, most obviously inputting all of the back issues and other material for sale. Given the revenue potential, this will take precedence over enhancements.</li> iv. <li>Work on the web site was hired out to expedite our online presence, and that has proven most satisfactory. Work was divided into three phases:
a) Phase I was planning, work complete.
b) Phase II was deployment of the base system, work complete.
c) Phase III is a collection of future developments that will be taken one at a time. Board assistance in prioritizing these will be solicited.</li> v. <li>We now have sufficient confidence in the new site that it is appropriate to take the old web site offline to save expenses. Monies recently paid are not necessarily wasted, as we continue to use the old web service provider for email forwarding services.</li></ol></li>
<li>An Email system is in early deployment; it will include <...@augustansociety.org> email addresses for all officers and committees, perhaps eventually all members. This will allow for permanent addresses such as <treasurer@augustansociety.org> to remain constant despite changes in the identity or home email address of that officer. More on this is expected soon.</li>
<li>We have a new membership data system in deployment. Progress is slow both due to the disorganized state of the records and the natural challenges of learning new software. It is already in a sufficiently advanced stage to use it for printing mailing labels. Alas, it is not clear if printing a roster from it will be possible or not. Alternate software is being investigated.</li>
Key to this reorganization is the creation of a Champion for each Society program, said Champions to make up the Board along with the Officers. At present, some programs are having to share a Champion—we feel this practice should be phased out so that Champions will not have divided loyalties, or more importantly, divided time.</li>
<li>There are a number of large issues to be addressed in the near future. One of our goals is to itemize them all and present them in time for discussions at the Annual Meeting. We invite additional items, but at present our list includes:
<ol type="i. ">The Augustan Omnibus and the future of publications:
a) Subscription price philosophy
b) Possibility of a return to multiple publications
c) Journal of Ancient & Medieval Studies—merger, independence, or termination
d) Payments to authors
e) Electronic distribution</li> ii. <li>The list of Society programs to be active. We presently have more programs than we do members!</li> iii. <li>Plans for a return to a public Headquarters and the funding mechanism for same</li> iv. <li>Plans for a permanent Headquarters:
a) Office space
b) Library
c) Museum
d) Chapel and meeting space
e) Lodging</li> v. <li>Long-range financial planning for Headquarters finance and growth</li> vi. <li>Charitable activities, both local and international (one local project has already been identified)</li></ol></li>
</ol></li>
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