Open Letter to NPAC Members
By John Lehmann, 2013-15 NPAC President
Change seems to be the only constant in our industry and not surprisingly, the same holds true for the News Photographers Association of Canada.
At the 2013 Annual General Meeting held during the April conference in Calgary, I was elected to the NPAC board. I know this change was sudden and somewhat unexpected for many but as one of the original founders of this organization, I felt I could help refocus the direction of our group.
Looking ahead as president, I’d like to share three points that form the goal of making us a better organization. We need greater transparency within the organization, become a better advocate for Canadian photojournalists and be more mindful of our expenses.
Financially speaking, NPAC is in a grim state. The current board has reviewed the organization’s accounts spanning the past three years and revenues have steadily declined as expenses have increased. This trend has left the organization with a deficit of about $10,000. This may seem like an insurmountable amount of debt but I strongly believe that with a financial strategy in place and control of spending, we’ll get out of debt and be a more financially secure organization.
So where and when did things go wrong?
The NPAC annual conference is our organization’s biggest revenue generator but it’s also our biggest expense. The 2011 Winnipeg conference was well planned and had an excellent lineup of speakers but it was very poorly attended by the membership which resulted in a financial loss.
In 2012, the conference in Ottawa was well attended and had some of the best speakers we’ve ever brought in but the cost of holding it in our nation’s capital far exceeded our revenues.
Finally, this year’s conference in Calgary ended up in the red when the final tally of costs were added up.
Adding to the organization’s financial headache is an assessed HST payment of $4,500. After being advised by accountants and a lawyer that we did not need to charge this tax on our NPOY entries and conference tickets because we are a not-for-profit organization, a quarterly-federal audit indicated otherwise and billed us this amount.
It is this domino effect of compounding losses that has our organization on the ropes and one of the main reasons I felt I needed to get involved again.
Moving forward with ideas and reaching our goals when debt has such a strong stranglehold on our finances is impossible. With this in mind, the executive board will institute the following changes for NPAC members:
1. Budgets will be put in place for conferences and strictly enforced by two board members, the president and treasurer, who will approve all expenditures.
2. The price of a professional membership in 2014 will increase from $60 to $75 and a student / retired membership will increase from $30 to $35. If you want to avoid this membership price increase, renew your current membership before November 30, 2013.
3. The National Pictures of the Year fee will increase to $10.00 per entry. However, this increase will have a ceiling of $150.00 per member. A member can have up to 20 entries plus a Photojournalist of the Year entry for a total of 21 entries at a cost of $150.00.
4. The cost of attending the annual conference and the National Pictures of the Year Awards will increase for both members and non-members. A full weekend member’s pass to the conference will now cost $165.00 (up from $150) and a member’s ticket to the Awards Ceremony will be $30.00 (up from $25).
5. In addition, we intend to work harder with our sponsors and advertisers to increase opportunities for them to reach out to our membership and provide a competitive price and effective way for them to do so.
As president, I hope you can accept these changes as a move to being a more transparent organization and understand that the executive board takes its role seriously with only the interest of the membership in mind. The very survival of the country’s only organization representing photojournalists depends on instituting these changes.
Another area I’d like to address is our organization’s ability to be a voice for all Canadian photojournalists. The publishing industry is undergoing a dramatic shift which is undoubtedly having a profound impact on our members. How we as group respond and participate in this reshaping will determine our future role in this profession. It’s with this in mind that I am proposing to strike a two to three-person committee whose sole purpose will be to represent Canadian photojournalist’s interests and rights on local and national levels. The committee will give NPAC members a louder and clearer voice and be proactive within the publishing community. If you’re interested in participating in this initiative, let me know and we can discuss ideas and a strategic plan.
Thank you for supporting NPAC in the past and I hope you can see the value in continuing your membership and participating in the various programs and initiatives carried out by our group. All NPAC board members can be contacted anytime if you have ideas or suggestions on how you might contribute to the future of NPAC.
Sincerely,
John Lehmann, NPAC President – president@npac.ca
Ben Nelms, Vice President – vice-president@npac.ca
Jason Payne, Treasurer – treasurer@npac.ca
