By Bradford Koshland, F313666
Executive Director
September 2011
By the time you read this month’s commentary, FMCA’s “Family A’Fair” in Madison, Wisconsin, will be behind us. I’m sure it will be another great convention. I personally would like to thank Jerry Yeatts, FMCA’s director of conventions and commercial services, and his staff for all the hard work they put forth to make our FMCA conventions successful. Without them coordinating everything behind the scenes, there could be no conventions.
This also brings me to report that this will be Jerry’s last official convention event where he was primarily in charge of the entire operation: from selecting the location and negotiating the contracts to planning the event and overseeing the opening and closing of the entire convention. Jerry will be moving to our Round Bottom Road facility and will be assuming responsibility for the Membership Records, Services, Benefits, and Programs Department. Jerry has many great ideas he would like to implement in helping FMCA to retain our existing members while finding and bringing in new members. Keep in mind that membership is the lifeblood of any organization. So, Jerry’s new position is crucial to this association. Please join me in wishing him success. I know that Jerry will tackle his new assignment in the same manner he handled the last “” that is, with much enthusiasm.
To fill Jerry’s “big” shoes, FMCA will be selecting a new events manager from in-house. The new events manager will be able to rely upon Jerry’s background, knowledge, and expertise, so that for each convention hereafter “” starting with Indianapolis, Indiana, in August 2012 “” FMCA does not miss a beat and you continue to enjoy the great conventions you have come to expect.
It’s September, so your new national officers, Executive Board members, and committee volunteers are now in place and working hard to maximize everybody’s efforts for the betterment of FMCA. These are exciting times for FMCA. We have added many new member benefits and will continue to add member benefits as we move forward. If you thought that FMCA was a “great” association before, just wait and see where we are headed for the remainder of this year and into 2012. My promise to you is this: our association will become an even “greater” association than it ever was before.
One thing that I have come to realize since being here in Cincinnati is that our membership does not know the extent of the work that occurs at the national office to run an organization of this size. To shed more light on the operation of FMCA, I have been asking each department director to write a little something about his or her background and explain the responsibilities associated with his or her position and how the staff plays a key role in what gets accomplished here on a day-to-day basis. This month, the director of administrative services, Lana Makin, will write about her department’s responsibilities and functions, among them the information technology (IT) team. The IT area is a key and critical component of FMCA. It is what makes FMCA tick as the association moves through the 21st century. Much of FMCA’s business is conducted over the Internet, and it is the IT department that makes that happen.
The Glue That Holds FMCA Together
By Lana Makin, F8163d
Director of Administrative Services
I have been employed by FMCA for 32-plus years. I say plus, because my official hire date is June 1979; however, I worked for FMCA during my high school years part-time and also back in the early 1970s. I used to walk to the FMCA office from school, and my primary job was pounding out plates for an addressograph machine or printing envelopes for a mailing on the addressograph.
My mother, Virginia Hicks, was hired as the first secretary at FMCA, working for Ken Scott, FMCA’s executive director, starting back in 1966. My mom and dad and my two older brothers and I traveled as a family to many FMCA conventions. Our first one was in Glenwood, Minnesota, in 1966 with 293 coaches in attendance. Dad rented a Flxible bus and away we went. There was little time for sight-seeing, as Mom put us all to work helping out at the convention. My brothers and I were able to go fishing at night; however, the mosquitoes could carry you away, so it was not very enjoyable.
My family started out tent camping and progressed to a motorhome. It was a way of life for us, and continues to be today for my family “” my husband, Ray; our grownup kids; and one grandchild “” as we travel in our motorhome on weekends and during an occasional vacation.
Administrative Department personnel like to refer to themselves as the “glue that holds it all together.” Probably the most important function they have is handling the finances of the association.
The Administrative Department is responsible for all incoming and outgoing mail and for receiving all shipments. They utilize a large postage machine to help automate a portion of this task.
Staff members open several hundred pieces of mail each day, including payments for new memberships, renewal dues, convention registrations, payments for magazine advertising, etc. Even though e-mail has taken over the world, a tremendous amount of postal mail continues to arrive each day and must be sorted and distributed. And, yes, like the rest of us, FMCA gets plenty of “junk mail” that must be handled.
Staff members process and deposit checks each month, plus all the credit card payments. All of this information has to be entered into the financial accounting system in order to produce timely financial statements at the end of the month.
Administrative Department staff issue approximately 300 checks per month to cover invoice payments to vendors that FMCA uses, travel reimbursement claims, payments for services and supplies related to conventions, etc. They also are responsible for managing the cash flow to make sure we have the proper funds to pay vendors in a timely manner.
At the end of every month, department members have specific responsibilities in order to close the month and produce a financial statement for the national treasurer and the Executive Board to review. These statements tell us the cost of the activities that went on for the month, and how FMCA is doing compared to budget as well as to the prior year. The statements also outline the financial position of the association, listing all of the assets and liabilities.
Among the employees in this department are the friendly voices you hear when you call the national office. All calls come to a receptionist, who is responsible for routing them to the proper staff members. A total of six employees “” including some from other departments “” serve as backups for one another to make sure the office phones are covered. Approximately 4,000 calls per month are received, which translates to 200 calls per day. When you call the FMCA office, you don’t have the frustration of being greeted by a recording and trying to figure out what department you may want. FMCA still has an operator to answer calls. However, at times you may receive an “operator overflow” recording, which means the receptionist is currently busy assisting another caller but will get to you in the order that your call was received. You may also hear a voice mail recording when the call is transferred to a staff member, which means the staff member you are calling is either out of the office, away from his or her desk, or on another call. We encourage all staff members to return calls promptly and to keep the message on their voice mail updated as to their current status.
Print shop functions fall under the auspices of the Administrative Department, with one staff member dedicated to the printing needs of all the departments. These print jobs include area rally programs, confirmation materials and credentials for conventions, four-color brochures, governance documents, meeting minutes, and much more.
The Administrative Department handles some human resource functions for the staff of 45 full-time and four part-time employees. They oversee payroll; employee benefits and their administration; contract negotiations for employee disability, health, and dental insurance; and the employee 401(k) plan.
FMCA has an extensive commercial insurance package, and Administrative Department personnel, along with the Risk Management Committee, are responsible for working with the agent of record to obtain the best coverage at a competitive price. They also handle all insurance-related claims from international conventions and from chapter and area rallies. They work closely with insurance adjusters to ensure timely payments when claims have been approved.
Last, but not least, the information technology staff and the Web site team fall under the direction of the Administrative Department. These groups function fairly independently and support all departments, including the rest of the Administrative Department. The IT staff supports more than 50 computers and four network servers. They write software applications to help employees do their work faster and more efficiently. With the exception of the accounting software, the systems used are all customized applications, so maintenance and upgrades to the existing software is an ongoing task. The current applications are approximately 15 years old, and we are now in the process of doing a complete analysis of a potential hosted system that FMCA would not have to maintain. IT staff members also support FMCA’s time clock, telephone, and building security systems.
FMCA.com has been and continues to be fully supported in-house. Although we use a company to host our Web site, the IT staff makes all of the additions and changes to the site. FMCA.com brings information to members about member benefits, technical information through its forums, new RV products, association events, governance documents, legislative issues, and much more. Members are able to update their personal records, pay their dues, and register for international conventions and most area rallies, among many other things, online.
We now have a new Web site, fmcmagazine.com, that houses the current issue of Family Motor Coaching magazine, as well as back issues dating to 2002.
The FMCA Store, which carries FMCA logo apparel and accessories, is available online at FMCAstore.com for members to purchase items. Merchandise also can be ordered by phone or at FMCA conventions and area rallies. Administrative Department staff members, with assistance from other staff as available, take care of ordering items for the store, as well as packing and shipping items to area rallies and to individual members who order merchandise. Wearing and using items with the FMCA logo can be a great way to spread the word about the association.
It has been a pleasure to write this article. I wish you safe and trouble-free travels.