Annual ARS Members’ Meeting Held
Newly-appointed ARS Board President Jody Miller opened up the 2025 Annual Members’ meeting by introducing the ARS Board of Directors, ARS staff and publications team, and the four candidates who will appear on the ballot in the upcoming 2026 Board election.
The next item of business included ARS revenue and expenses (see pie charts, which will also be published in AR magazine). While ARS membership dues account for much of our income, member donations exceeded this amount and allowed the ARS to fund existing programs while offering both new and one-time projects.
The total income of $321,878 broke down this way:
$128,592—member donations
$119,730—member dues
$44,785—dividends and capital/unrealized gains
$28,338—program revenue (ads, subscriptions, sales)
$433—other (merchandise sales, rebates, etc.)
The total of expenses was $244,146. This was less than our income and
this allowed the Board to invest our funds so that dividends can help fund our programs and activities. The Finance Committee meets monthly and reports to the Executive Committee, keeping a close track on finances. It is a goal to spend wisely on programs that matter to our members.
ARS Expenses are largely program-based:
$73,177—program expenses (American Recorder magazine and other publications)
$70,020— program expenses (administrative programs and support)
$49,972—general administrative (ARS office)
$35,529—program expenses (website, events, video, classes)
$14,714—program expenses (scholarships and grants)
$734—other
ARS implemented the 2024-25 Strategic Plan as closely as possible, taking into account questions and suggestions from members attending the 2024 Members’ Meeting. Some of the major accomplishments:
- Awarded 31 grants and scholarships to individuals, chapters, K-12 teachers, college recorder programs
- Sponsored a masterclass with Harvey Stokes, composer of the 2025 Play-the-Recorder Month selections
- Sponsored youth activities at the Boston Early Music Festival, including bringing together young recorder players and teachers from international communities
- Presented two Site-Seeing Tours for our members (ARS website content)
- Offered beginning- and second-level recorder instruction classes to members and potential members
- Offered Chapter Leaders’ Roundtable discussions
These programs will largely continue into the 2025-26 fiscal year, with the exception of the Boston Early Music Festival activity. This was possible due to a large one-time member donation. Here are some additions:
- Online instruction will be expanded to include “third-level” classes for our members
- David Hurd, the composer of the 2026 Play-the-Recorder Month piece, will lead a composition masterclass for young composers
- The Board will undertake the project of rewriting the Chapter Handbook
After recognizing the various committees within the ARS Board and noting their valuable contributions to the organization’s accomplishments, Jody invited those within the membership to contact the ARS office if they feel they could help with some of the great work we can do. While we only have 14 positions available on the Board, some of the work is done through various task forces that include several non-Board members.
Questions from participants:
Q:
The ARS website is very dense. There’s so much usable information, but sometimes it's hard to find. Should there be a committee to help members navigate the website?
A: Since the ARS offers so many benefits, the website might come across as dense. The Site-Seeing Tours are in place to help with this. This sounds like more of a job for a task force. We’ll discuss how to improve upon this.
Q:
How are you planning to move the membership goals of the Strategic Plan down to individual chapters?
A: This is hard to answer because the needs of the local chapters may vary widely from one chapter to the next. We know that stronger local chapters equate to a stronger ARS, so we are already making plans to develop that connection. The Chapter Leaders’ Roundtable’s overarching goal is to help chapter leaders exchange ideas, largely for this purpose.
Q:
Can you use ChatGPT for the chapter handbook?
A: This is something we would need to investigate and this will be brought up first at an Executive Committee meeting.
Q:
Will you make the presentation slides available to chapter presidents?
A: There is no plan to send the presentation out to everyone, but Jody is happy to share it with anyone who asks.
Q:
Is it worthwhile to pursue non-profit status? We found our chapter will need to do this due to bank regulations.
A: The ARS isn’t able to give out any sort of legal or financial advice, as the laws vary from state to state. It might be helpful to reach out to other chapter leaders and see how they have handled this for their own chapters.
Q:
How can ARS Facebook members be encouraged to join the ARS?
A: We wish we knew! Our Marketing Manager, Administrative Director, and Board President post on the Facebook group encouraging membership in ARS. It’s helpful that other participants in today’s meeting suggested reaching out via Reddit and we will run this by our Marketing Manager.
