Board adjusts budget calendar

The EdTA Board of Directors spent a day in a workshop designed to improve its own effectiveness, approved a proposal for a change in the organization’s fiscal year, and reappointed board member Kenneth Washington to a new three-year term during its January face-to-face meeting.

Board members worked with consultant Carolyn Bailey in a workshop on governance and board effectiveness, designed to help the board make the best use of its time to focus on leadership of the organization and defining the future. Later, in its regular business session, the board conducted a detailed review of a section of the Board Policy Manual and established a standing board Committee on Governance.

A second new ad hoc committee will be charged with advising the board on the operation of the Nominating Committee, which recruits and selects new board member candidates.

The board adopted a proposal  from its Finance Committee and the staff to shift the EdTA fiscal year, which currently runs from August through July, to match the calendar year beginning in January 2013. Executive Director Julie Woffington said the new fiscal calendar is a better fit for the annual rhythm of the organization’s work and will provide for better budget planning and allocation of resources. The new calendar won’t have any effect on the financial cycles of state chapters, which will continue to be budgeted and reported separately from the home office.

Ken Washington, who is director of company development for the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and artistic associate of New York University’s graduate acting program, was appointed to a new three-year term that begins next August.

The board heard reports from staff members on recent fundraising work, developments in research and advocacy, a new draft agreement between EdTA and its state chapters, and plans for online editions of EdTA publications.