SND/Update

Hello, SND members. I hope this note finds you all in full holiday swing, heading into your best year ever. As 2009 draws to a close, I wanted to update you one last time on where we are.

First, let me commend the board of directors for their leadership is in ensuring that SND remains the largest and most dynamic organization for visual journalists in the world. Serving on this board is a labor of love, and the time and talent they expend is tremendous. It’s a testament to their vision and dedication that SND has been able to deliver so much in such a difficult year. We hosted informal meetups and intensive digital training across the United States. We saw the World’s Best Designed Newspapers on display at the Guttenberg. We staged successful workshops in China, Austria, Finland, Spain and — of course — the incomparable Argentina.

SND is committed to forging the partnerships and reimagining the programming that will keep members on the cutting edge, and you’ll be hearing a lot of exciting ideas from the 2010 team in coming days. Here’s where SND stands heading into the new year:

MEMBERSHIP: As companies continue to cut back on sponsored dues, this remains a sobering headline. In a little more than a year, SND has lost 814 members, or 39% of its membership. The most dramatic drop came between the fall board meeting in 2008, when we had 2,042 members and the spring board meeting in 2009, when we had 1,592. We had 1,371 members at the time of the Buenos Aires election and have lost 143 members since. The 2010 team will be working hard to reverse this trend. Thanks so much to SND leaders who gave them a head start by donating a membership this month.

FINANCIALS: We began the year with $189,328 in our reserve fund. Today it is at $129,451 (a 2009 deficit of $59,877, just over the $50k loss projected at the spring board meeting). I’m pleased to leave SND with a 2010 budget that calls for shoring up the reserve fund instead of depleting it to cover operating costs, as has been recent practice. The board needs to be diligent on this front: SND policy is to maintain a reserve fund equal to 25% of budgeted expenses. Even after realizing significant savings in office overhead, the reserve fund is only 22% of 2010’s budgeted expenses of $598,662. If SND programs perform as expected in 2010, the reserve fund will be restored to where it needs to be.

Closing this gap was made possible in large part by shuttering the Rhode Island office and requiring the new executive director to perform the duties of two full-time staffers. That difficult decision means Membership Manager Susan Santoro’s position will be eliminated at the end of the year.

Susan has agreed to remain with SND through Feb. 26 on a contract basis to assist with the competition. Susan has been a magnificent support to every SND activity for the past decade, and I have an impossible time imagining the organization without her. Please join me in thanking her for being the glue that has held the office together for so many years.

OFFICE MOVE: After a grueling four-day trek through one of the East Coast’s worst snowstorms on record, new Executive Director Stephen Komives has relocated the contents of the Rhode Island office to Orlando (he made the move himself to save SND about $8,000).

Stephen’s been working around the clock to get equipment up and running, arrange a remote working relationship with Susan, transfer SND’s banking and familiarize himself with the accounting protocol. He is now managing all SND operations from a virtual office, checking in with the executive committee weekly.

I hope you’ll take a moment to thank departing Executive Director Elise Burroughs for her leadership as she leaves SND this week after five years. Elise has been a consummate pro through our best and worst, and she is directly responsible for the growth and stability SND has seen in its membership outside the U.S. Thank you, Elise. SND owes you and Susan so much.

SNDF: Susan Mango Curtis has done a tremendous job overseeing SND’s educational and research activities for the past six months. It’s been wonderful having her energy and passion for academic advocacy in the conversation, and I wish I could persuade her to extend her term that ends Dec. 31. The search for our next SNDF President will be Steve Dorsey’s responsibility as SNDF Chair. Until that appointment is made, Steve will take the point on Foundation matters, dealing with the immediate issues of reaching out to design and J-schools regarding our new resource center for educators, organizing the fundraiser at the Syracuse judging and raising the $10k needed for the Edmund Arnold scholarship. SNDF is healthy with just over $73,000 in the bank. The preliminary budget, which Steve will shepherd through, shows a break-even year for 2010.

It is my great pleasure as SNDF Chair to announce news we received from the Gannett Foundation just today, that SND has been awarded a $10,800 grant to support our web design boot camps. Many thanks to Elise for pursuing this funding, and to Education and Training Director Denise Reagan for spearheading this program. SND also owes a great debt to two men who invented our information design tracks more than a decade ago, Don Wittekind and Jeff Goertzen, who both stepped away from the board this year. Thank you, Don and Jeff, for the vision, energy and evangelism that has trained hundreds of visual journalists all over the globe.

HEARTFELT THANKS: My eight years on the board have taken me places I never imagined I’d go, introduced me to people I never dreamed I’d meet, created memories I’ll always cherish and shaped me in ways for which I’ll always be grateful. This opportunity has been very special to me. I’ve felt privileged and humbled to represent SND in several roles — conducting quick courses from Idaho to Toronto, organizing the annual workshop in Orlando, judging the competition at Syracuse, awarding commendations in Buenos Aires. I’ve been professionally and personally inspired by the close association with you.

I’d especially like to offer a standing ovation for my fellow officers, Gayle Grin and Steve Dorsey, for their intelligence, sensitivity and wise counsel. They’ve both carried an inordinate amount of water for SND this year, and I can’t thank them enough.

Finally, a toast to you, the members. My family and I were thrust into SND’s summer tornado during an agonizing time in our personal life, and we are forever grateful for the extraordinary expressions of kindness that came to us from SND colleagues around the world. While I wish things had played out differently in many ways, the events of 2009 have reinforced something I’ve always believed about SND: That more than an organization, it’s also a family.

I’m sending my best wishes for happiness and success in the year ahead.

Always rooting for you,

Bo