communication department

By Dan Dornbrook, Treasurer, Chicago Chapter

Finance is not a skill set that comes easily to most technical communicators. Many of us earned our college degrees in majors (journalism in my case) that were more related to our verbal SAT scores than to our math scores. Also, those of us who aren’t in business for ourselves often rely on invisible corporate functionaries to handle all that tedious, confusing money stuff so we can focus on more important, or at least more familiar, matters.

In recent years, the leaders of the Chicago chapter realized that it needed to take control of its finances by altering its activities.

Consider Changes

First, we examined our spending practices, including some that we assumed were related to volunteer turnover. We cut out expenses that we could no longer justify, such as a voicemail line that received very few calls. We stopped renting LCD projectors for events and bought a used projector online, a change that paid for itself within a few months. We automated event registration and many other administrative functions, which enabled us to stop paying an outside service to perform those functions.

Second, we looked at ways to make more activities self-sustaining. We adjusted our newsletter publication schedule and sought advertisers to help cover our printing and mailing costs. We adjusted our meeting schedule to focus on months and locations that members want, and we sought sponsors to make meetings more affordable. We asked award recipients to take responsibility for extras, such as duplicate award plaques and shipment of plaques to non-banquet-attendees.

Finally, we communicated these changes to our members through our newsletter, our Web site, and our e-mail list, so they could understand what we were doing to try to serve them better.

Insist on Being Informed

Most importantly, as chapter leaders, we decided to insist on being informed about our chapter’s finances. We stopped settling for just knowing that we had enough money in the bank to keep our checks from bouncing. Now, we get a monthly report of chapter income and expenses by activity, and the activity list is aligned with the list in our required annual report to STC, so we know from month to month where we stand. (The report is done in Excel, and I would be happy to share the template. If interested, please e-mail me.)

As in any healthy volunteer organization, this was a team effort. Chapter officers assessed where we were, and, together, we agreed on where we needed to go. In short, we communicated, because decisions require communication—and because we are communicators. We simply applied that skill set in new ways to serve the evolving needs of our members. I fully believe that others can do the same, if not better. The members who have entrusted their dues to us deserve no less.

Dan Dornbrook is a content developer for Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility Solutions group, which is the leading provider of communications systems for voice and data to government and public safety agencies as well as corporate enterprises throughout the world. He has been an STC member since 1993.