Treasurer: Nonfinancial resources need bolstering

After presenting financials underscoring the Association’s fiscal strength, AVMA Treasurer Barbara A. Schmidt told the House of Delegates Aug. 5 during its regular annual session, “As you have seen, our financial resources at AVMA are strong. It is our human resources, our capacity, and our capability or skill sets as well as our infrastructure that are limiting.”

Bolstering those resources is an important part of building a strategy-focused AVMA that will meet the profession’s challenges in today’s competitive environment, she said. With two years spent making the plan, now it is time to “work the plan,” she said, adding, “We now have a sustainable and repeatable process to tie finances with strategy at AVMA.”

To maximize member value, Dr. Schmidt said the AVMA must increase capacity by focusing on its strengths, prioritizing member needs, and tracking performance and impact. Instead of addressing lots of items, the focus should be on key items.

AVMA is in a period of transformation, the treasurer said. The staff is working as a team to prioritize members’ needs and identify projects and programs with the greatest impact.

“Strategy is at least as much about what an organization does not do as it is about what it does,” she said.

Strong financial resources will support the AVMA in implementing this strategic approach of growing member value across all segments of the profession. For example, the treasurer reported that at year-end 2015, total assets exceeded $65.8 million, and liabilities were just over $26 million. Net revenue from operations was just over $2.5 million. After expenses approved from reserves, net income over expenses was just over $882,000.

From a total dollar standpoint, the AVMA has grown its reserves by nearly $17.8 million since 2008.

The 2016 annual operating budget depicts a balanced budget, with revenues just over $35.6 million and expenses just over $35.5 million.