Analysis of Toastmasters International form 990 tax return for 2011

by Mike Raffety

dollar_noteThe 2011 form 990 tax return for Toastmasters International is now available, and I’ve highlighted some interesting data from it here.

http://990finder.foundationcenter.org/990results.aspx?990_type=&fn=&st=&zp=&ei=951300076&fy=&action=Find

Total revenue for 2011 was $23.3M, total expenses $22.3M, but that $1M was matched by investment losses, with a total excess for the year of $3,700 (this would be “profit” in a for-profit company).

Net assets grew from $36.9M to $38.5M, or 4.3%, which seems roughly equal to club and membership growth. Fixed assets include land that cost $1.2M, buildings that cost $4.1M (book value after depreciation is now $1.5M), and equipment that cost $6.6M (book value $1.7M).

Cash reserves total $12.7M, plus $20M in investments and $4.5M in capital assets (land, building, equiment). Net assets of $32.4M are equal to 139% of annual revenue, which is about in the middle of the usual recommended range of 1-2 years revenue in assets for non-profits.

Districts hold cash accounts with a total of $1.9M (an average of about $21K each), but this is not the reserve accounts at WHQ. The district reserve accounts do not appear to be separately reported.

Salaries, other comp, and employee benefits total $6.7M for 2011, and there are now 136 employees reported. That’s an average of $49K per employee per year (though some employees are probably part-time, and contractors would not be counted).

The five highest-compensated independent contractors are listed:

  • IPC Print Services, printing & mailing services, $822K
  • Brokers Worldwide, printing & mailing services, $801K
  • Aetna, medical insurance services, $764K (that’s about $5,600 per employee on average)
  • Shanahan Printing, printing services, $434K
  • Express Postal Options Intl, mailing services, $428K

There are 17 more vendors who received more than $100K in the year, but not listed.

Interestingly, the rebranding vendor is not listed, so apparently they were paid less than $428K in 2011 (some people wildly speculated they got a million dollars). There’s an adjustment to the costs of educational materials of $2.3M, this may be a write-off on materials with the old branding. (The rebranding was announced in August 2011.)

Highest paid employees (including retirement and other benefits) were:

  • Daniel Rex, Executive Director, $353K
  • Sally Newell-Cohn, director of communications, secretary-treasurer, $161K
  • Vince Rinner, director of technology services (no longer with TI), $172K
  • John Bond, controller, $151K
  • Darci Maenpa, director of member support, $163K

By comparison, Dan Rex made $297K in 2010 (2011 was a 19% raise over this), and made $255 in 2009 (2010 was a 16% raise over this).

Posted on (Updated: )

30 thoughts on “Analysis of Toastmasters International form 990 tax return for 2011”

  1. Interesting information. I looked at the Financial Statements of 2012 and 2011, and it’s obvious that this organization is sitting on a pile of cash. Yet, whenever you attend a district meeting, they’re quick to charge you, at the very least $50 regardless of whether you’re a member, President of a Club, Area Governor,…

    Also, am I the only one who finds the compensation for the Executive Director a bit too much? $353K!

    1. Anthony, non-profits are generally recommended to have 1-2 years of expenses saved up against a rainy day, and the TI reserves fall well within that range, or even on the lower side. When you consider the total amount of cash flow through the organization, it’s not that much savings.

      What “district meetings” are you referring to — conferences? Yes, they have to cover the conference expenses, like hotel, meeting rooms, refreshments, printing, etc. Every district I’m familiar with treats conferences as a roughly break-even sort of event. Meals are typically passed through at around actual cost (after factoring in taxes, mandatory gratuities, and the like).

      I’m rather happy that everyone pays the same, from ordinary member without an office, all the way up to District Governor. If the poobahs got a break, it would result in higher fees on those ordinary members, and at least in some districts, I suspect a big chunk of the attendees, perhaps as many as half, are club presidents, VPEs, or district officers.

      The CEO’s pay is an interesting dilemma. Yet when we compare it to what similar size non-profits pay, it’s not all that outrageous — on the high side, but not crazy high. TI is a big organization, despite having a fairly small number of employees (about 100), serving about 300,000 members, with an annual budget of around $30M ($100/member, which is $72/member in dues, plus other income, like the August convention, advertising, and product sales).

      Take a few minutes to skim over this Charity Navigator report on non-profit CEO compensation; TI would be considered a “large” organization in their classifications:

      http://www.charitynavigator.org/__asset__/studies/2013_CEO_Compensation_Study_Final.pdf

        1. It is high, but it is also a large global organization. I believe the board does have “comparables” on file for the CEOs of similar large organizations to justify his current salary. I have faith that our elected leaders are doing what’s right for the organization.

  2. This is very helpful. Thank you.

    Executive compensation: according to the link you provided, compensation of TI CEO is between 50% to 200% higher than a comparable organization (the figure varies whether your benchmark is geographic, by size, or a combination of the month).

    Regardless of the benchmark you use, where I come from, if the CEO of non-profit makes more than the Secretary of State or Treasury, and similar to what President Obama makes, that bothers me.

    It bothers me even more when the CEO of that organization doesn’t seem to add much value to the organization itself. Toastmasters is not like other real charities or NGOs, whose CEO is heavily involved in raising funds and managing the organizations. I’m an Area Governor in the DC and not once have I heard about the top management of the organization. As a matter of fact, I doubt that the executive directors have a coherent vision of where this organization should go.

    This organization is sitting on $36 million that could be used to really help the members and improve the quality the meetings at club level (offering discounted videocameras to succesful clubs is one initiative that comes to mind for example).

    In the meantime, I see a lot of people putting a lot of work organizing meetings, conferences, and getting 0 rewards or recognition whatsoever.

    I used to be very passionate at this organization when I was just President of my club. Once I became Area Governor it became crystal clear that this is a very old-fashioned organization, set in its ways, and extremely comfortable with the status quo. Honestly, I feel sorry for all the good people who donate their time and efforts to support this organization while the top executives are making a killing thanks to them.

    The whole thing resembles something one of my professors said to me one time: every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.

    1. I think there’s quite a wide range, variation, in the salaries paid for non-profits.

      Also, it is widely considered a best practice to keep 1-2 years of expenses in cash and reserves, and the current cash on hand is on the low end of that range.

    2. Anthony,

      To your points above, I did want to pass along a tool that enables clubs to very inexpensively video capture speeches for their members. Check out SpeechInbox.com – using your smartphone or iPod, you can now easily video capture, upload and review all of your speeches online – for any member – with ease!

  3. It seems as if Daniel Rex’s salary is rather high and a 19% increase year-to-year seems rich. However, he apparently has a new title. Did increased responsibilities come along with that? I spent nearly 25 years in banking and after that 20 years working in the non-profit arena including several different United Way organizations. Some 20 years ago the Executive Vice President I/c/o Middle Market Lending in New York City made $160,000! In today’s world that would translate into $259,000. But he was responsible for a significant amount of bank profits.

    Brian Gallagher, President and CEO of United Way, earns $1,037,140 a year, according to a December 2010 report from the American Institute of Philanthropy. The amount of money Daniel Rex makes isn’t as important as what kind of a job is he doing! I have little information on how his performance is viewed.

    I can understand people getting upset at compensation they feel is too high and I can see where people view the World Headquarters as somewhat outdated. Yet, I have been in Toastmasters since 1997 not because of the policy and procedures that emanate from California! I am in it for what I earn at the local club level. That includes videotaping speeches, excellent evaluations and friendships with individual members that are cemented every Tuesday night when we explore local restaurants post-meeting at what we refer to as Afterwords. I spoke recently to a DTM from one of the oldest clubs in Florida. He recalled the days where the local club Did Their Own Thing regardless of whether the Area Governor ever showed up for a visit. They created a professional environment that welcomed newbies as well as old-timers working together to get the Butterflies Flying In Formation! The real value in Toastmasters…where the rubber hits the road so to speak…is what happens at the club leverl and not just any club buy Your club!

    1. No change in responsibilities from Executive Director to CEO that I’m aware of — I think the goal was simply to use a title more common in similar organizations, a little modernization.

      Many clubs can “do their own thing” and excel … but I’ve seen a few of them that go in a very different direction from the core Toastmasters program and values, and do damage to our brand reputation. I think some structure is a necessity for clubs to ensure a solid brand.

  4. One thing to remember is that a huge part of the expenses at WHQ are the recent salary increases in the past 5-7 years since new Executive Director. Check the total salaries before they started changing the top management at WHQ. Probably since Donna left/was booted out, the salaries at WHQ have really skyrocketed. And what else have we gotten out of WHQ? Rebranding that made clubs buy more garb from WHQ, a system upgrade that was approved for a couple hundred thousand but probably costs us millions when all was said and “not” done. Look at the staff growth at WHQ. What are we getting out of this?

    I would really like to see how many of the people in management and WHQ in general are actually members of clubs? Do they even know what we do at the club level? When is the last time any of them even attended a meeting? You would think that they should all attend meetings to understand how to support us. Of course they would probably just try and find ways to rip us off and take more money from us.

    1. Carl, we know that department heads ARE members of clubs, but for most employees there, it’s a job, not a volunteer role like members have.

      Rebranding has generally been a good thing, the old logo really was pretty dated. No one has been required to buy a SINGLE thing out of rebranding. In the vast majority of the cases, it’s just replacing materials as the stock runs down, no added cost at all. And we know that the rebranding vendor didn’t get paid very much, as they didn’t show up on the legal disclosure of the top 5 paid vendors (see my tax form 990N analysis) — it was nowhere near the million dollars that was rumored at the time.

      1. When is the last club meeting that any Director/C-level attended on any sort of regular basis. Department heads, are you talking management? I seriously doubt it. Lets see the names of all those on the WHQ org chart, how long they have been members and how active they are in clubs. You wont find many I’m sure. And those making policy decisions…I doubt it.

        You list the top 5 “independent contractors” What about the cost of all that computer and programming work. I’m sure whatever system they use cost a lot more than what was approved…it was all probably swept under some rug.

        As for rebranding costs, I bet WHQ trashed a lot of perfectly good stuff just to get the rebranded items out there.

        1. Carl, all the department heads are required to join a club and attend regularly, but their membership record is under an alias, so only WHQ can answer that, and due to employee privacy requirements, I am sure will not do so.

          WHQ has an IT staff doing most of the programming work, no contractors involved usually.

          The rebranding was planned out many months, so they could run down existing inventory, and avoid throwing stuff out. You’d lose that bet.

          1. From what I have heard, department heads, although “required” to join a club and attend regularly, do not. Their membership records are not alias’, why on earth would that be the case, that makes no sense.

            As for the IT staff doing most of the programming work, I seriously doubt it. I’m not sure everything that was involved but from what I’ve heard, it was very extensive and contractors were paid a lot of money to get the work done. A nice gig if you can get it.

            And rebranding, don’t count me out on loosing that bet. I would bet that when they had their own in-house printing that they printed a lot of material. When rebranding came, a bunch of stuff got tossed in the trash. I can only guess at that but if you really wanted to see how messed up WHQ is being run, put a bug in the boards ear to do some extensive auditing. I’m only going off of second and third hand info but it’s pretty reliable.

            1. Well, I’m going off FIRST-hand info, and department heads DO join TM clubs, and rebranding did NOT result in a lot of material being tossed, because they knew it was coming six months in advance and made sure they didn’t print/order/create a lot of stuff with the old brand.

              Indeed, some people were complaining that WHQ could not ship some items, because they’d run out of the old, and could not ship the new until it was announced.

              It’s quite common to use contractors for specialty one-time projects, like writing a new software system, and much more cost-effective than hiring people full-time and keeping them even after the work is done. I’m in the IT business. But for things that need ongoing development or support, that’s done in-house.

  5. Considering you were on the Board I’ll take your word over my source with “first” hand knowledge as I can only go off of what I’ve been told.

    But like I said, only an audit of what goes on at WHQ will give everyone a true understanding of the amount of money the new leadership is spending on things that do not necessarily benefit the members. Right or wrong, I think that the members and especially the board need to see what really goes on behind those closed doors. You were (are) all fooled by the trickery that those at the top are really doing and more importantly “sweeping under the rug”

    You can all choose to trust what you are being told, and again, you were closer to it than I. But if there is even an ounce of truth to this, I would think a true audit of not only money spent, but reviewing emails will show that things are not as presented.

  6. This company has been Dan Rex’s vehicle to retire for more than 20 years. It has never been about the membership for him; it’s about how much money can he make and how little can he work and can he give any contracts to friends or church members.

    Executive Directors work for non-profits; CEOs work at for-profit companies. You do the math.

    1. Julianne, you make a lot of accusations in just two sentences. Any facts to back up your statements? His salary and bonus are public record as above. Can you name a single instance of “how little can he work and can he give any contracts to friends or church members”?

      In my experience, he works long days, as is common in international organizations; his e-mail address and phone number are well known among district leaders, and he consistently responds within minutes, even if late in the evening, or early in the morning.

      Please tell us, what church does he belong to, since you say he’s giving contracts to church members?

      BTW, the YMCA has a CEO, and that’s the non-profit where Toastmasters started.

  8. When will the latest 990 be available that details additional information. I would like to have some independent support provided regarding having a 1-2 year reserve. I doubt many non-profits carry such amounts, especially if they are spending their revenues effectively.

    TM used to publish its financial statement in its magazine. It no longer does. Why is that? Also, I requested and received an audited statement of TM and when I asked for details, they said no additional information will be released than the minimum required due to TM’s legal status – whatever that means.

    Regarding dues, what are the procedures and authority (by-laws, etc.) to continue to increase member dues, especially given the level of liquidity within TM? Are these available for review by members, who I feel effectively are shareholders or grantors who are effectively funding the non-profit. Since when are contributors precluded from being provided detail on information of the entity for which they are a ‘member’.

    1. I have the 2012 return already, I need to write it up, will try to do it tomorrow. The Toastmasters bylaws give the board the power to set dues, there are no limitations on that. http://www.toastmasters.org/PolicyProtocol#page=25 (large PDF)

      1-2 years expenses set aside in reserves is the standard in non-profits, and if anything, we’re a little on the low side. Feel free to Google for it, or ask any CPA that specialized in non-profits.

      It’s not in the magazine because it’s on the web site. You can find the published financial statements here: http://www.toastmasters.org/Members/MembersFunctionalCategories/AboutTI/Annual-Financial-Reports.aspx

  9. Great article. Thanks for the info, it’s easy to understand. BTW, if anyone needs to fill out an IRS form 990, I found a blank form here: http://goo.gl/4wo5Q9. This site also has some tutorials on how to fill it out and a few related fillable tax forms.

  10. TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL

    Arguments Against Proposal A

    Black color is the proposal by Toastmasters CEO & Board
    Red color is the response against Proposal A

    PROPOSAL A

    Amendments to the Bylaws of Toastmasters International

    See https://www.toastmasters.org/About/Board-of-Directors/2016-Proposals

    This proposal relates to the legal and physical locations of Toastmasters International. The first part confirms that Toastmasters International is legally domiciled in California. The second part removes the requirement that World Headquarters be located in California.

    The Board of Directors encourages you to vote ‘Yes’ on Proposal A to enable the organization to strategically place World Headquarters in a location that includes access to a growing, diverse and talented workforce while not being restricted to an extremely high-cost environment.

    RESPONSE TO THE BOARD’S STATEMENT ABOVE:

    · Will the Board provide the details of the statistical analysis of the diverse workforce in terms of age, sex, education and race in comparing California vs Denver, Colorado ? Will the Board provide us with the statistical analysis of what an “extremely high-cost environment” is in details in comparing California vs Denver, Colorado?
    1. What is Proposal A

    There are two bylaws changes related to location:

    The first confirms Toastmasters International’s legal domicile in California.

    The second removes the requirement for World Headquarters to be located in California.

    RESPONSE TO ITEM #1 ABOVE

    It seems that the Board has already decided to move the Headquarters until they discovered that the by-law restricts the World Headquarters to be in California.

    2. Why are these changes being recommended

    To ensure legal continuity, Toastmasters, as a legal entity, will remain domiciled in California. Establishing a new legal entity in a new legal jurisdiction would be extremely complex, costly and would not yield positive benefits.

    As our birthplace, Orange County, California, has a physical and sentimental place in Toastmasters International’s past and present. In 1924, Orange County was experiencing a post-World War I economic boom and was ripe for the founding of an organization like Toastmasters. In 90 years, it has transitioned from a quaint collection of small and midsize communities to its current bustling, sprawling reality. World Headquarters operations, as they exist now and are envisioned for the future, are not dependent upon being located in the location of the organization’s founding. It is more important that the World Headquarters location be based on a strategic 25-year view that includes access to a growing, diverse and talented workforce while not being restricted to an extremely high-cost environment.

    RESPONSE TO ITEM #2 ABOVE

    · There is no better access to “a growing, diverse and talented workforce” than Southern California. Southern California is a world hub for all airlines.

    · There is absolutely no direct flight from Asia to Denver while Southern California has plenty.

    · Southern California has a diverse workforce with major educational institutes like UCLA, USC and UC Irvine that will supply a growing pool of talented workers.

    · Southern California has a pool of diverse multi-ethnic workers from all over the world.

    · Southern California is also a vibrant place for innovations for organizational management.

    · Visitors to the World Headquarters of Toastmasters International will find all kinds of scenic areas and entertainment places within an hour of travel; indeed even for skiing.

    · Since the legal domicile stays in California, there is no change in Toastmasters’ cost in doing business unless the “extremely high-cost environment” refers to the top officers’ pay. In that case, will the Board reduce the pay of the top officers?

    · For the top three officers of Toastmasters International, according to the 2013 and 2014 tax filings, the base pay were:
    2013 2014 % Increase
    Daniel Rex, CEO $349,090 $395,724 13%
    Sally Newell-Cohan, COO $203,462 $240,062 18%
    Hanidreza Farajian, Technology Director $152,543 $215,415 41%

    · There was a significant pay increase for these officers from 2013 to 2014. It was over 46K for Mr. Rex, over 36K for Ms Newell-Cohen and over 62K for Mr. Farajian. The percentages increases were 13%, 18% and a whopping 41% respectively.

    · It does not make sense for the top officers to want to reduce their own pay if the “extremely high–cost environment” explanation refers to their pay. Perhaps it has to do with the state income tax in California which is from 9.30% to 11.30% for those making from $50K to $311K; in Colorado, the state income tax is a flat rate of 4.63% of federal taxable income.

    Since the international regions of Toastmasters have the highest rate of growth with 11.9% versus an average of 5.9%, it may make sense to move the headquarters to India where the growth is exponential. If Proposal A is passed, there is no reason not to consider moving Toastmasters headquarters overseas.

    3. 3. Why not stay in California?

    The cost of doing business in California is exceedingly high in comparison to other states. This affects members through dues, fees and product pricing.

    RESPONSE TO ITEM #3 ABOVE

    · What this really means is about the recently passed California law requiring the minimum wage to be increased from the current $10 to $15 by the year 2022.

    · Why not move to Alabama where the State legislators in February have strike down the City of Birmingham’s wage ordinance of $10.10 per hour back to $7.25 per hour? Moving there would have even greater savings. Better yet, as the response to #2 stated, moving to India would make better sense.

    · While Toastmasters International is about helping others to improve their speaking skills, however, in passing Proposal A, it will also mean keeping the low wages down and abandoning those who have worked for years for the company.

    · With such a long history, Toastmasters must have many long time employees who cannot afford to relocate with their roots fully established in Southern California.

    · Are we going to do what many for-profit businesses have done with the goal of paying lower wages to new hires by moving out of state? What does it really say about the character of Toastmasters International?

    · A large expense of Toastmasters are in paying the CEO and top officers as the 2014 financial report shown. Will Toastmasters reduce such payment since correspondingly, the cost of living expenses of the officers will be less?

    https://www.toastmasters.org/About/~/media/AF732B039A114DD8B26163841B63FB0A.ashx

    4. 4. If Proposal A passes, would World Headquarters relocate?

    It is very likely that if Proposal A passes, World Headquarters would relocate out of California. The Board has long recognized the high cost of doing business in California and has expressed increasing concern over the impact to the members. Over the past three years it conducted a review of potential locations in California and in five other states to consider more optimal locations for WHQ operations. This analysis confirmed that the organization would benefit from moving to a state that provides access to a very desirable workforce in a lower-cost environment.

    RESPONSE TO ITEM #4 ABOVE

    · Will the Board & CEO provide the potential locations they have looked at and the statistical analysis that has been done in evaluating potential locations in California and the five other states?

    · It is also clear that the CEO had already decided to move to Denver until they found out that the by-laws had specifically made California the Headquarters of Toastmasters International.

    · The claim of “It is very likely that if Proposal A passes, World Headquarters would relocate out of California.” is in fact a ruse since the Board & CEO has already decided to move to Denver as clearly stated in #5 and the Toastmasters Board meeting of April 13, 2016.

    · See April 13, 2016 Minutes of meeting of Toastmasters Board and change of Bylaws before the Board and the CEO realized that it needed membership approval.
    https://www.toastmasters.org/About/Board-of-Directors/~/media/CC2CA237B7744258A470A253B83AD536.ashx

    5. 5. Has a location been selected?

    Based on all the factors considered, Denver, Colorado, has been chosen by the Board of Directors as the potential new home of World Headquarters. Overall, the cost of doing business is estimated to be 18 percent lower in the Denver, Colorado area than in Orange County, California. However, the Board is unable to finalize a location outside of California until the membership has approved Proposal A. A potential site has been identified and assessment is ongoing. To announce the exact location at this time could jeopardize future negotiations.

    RESPONSE TO ITEM #5 ABOVE

    · Can the Board provide us with how they came to the estimate of 18% lower cost of doing business in Denver as opposed to Orange County, California?

    · Studies have shown that the cost savings of a new location are almost always less than the relocation costs; in fact the cost are often more than the savings.

    · The Board did not address the major issues of moving the headquarters in the FAQ as to property acquisition, property disposition, employee relocation, employee retention, employee severance, employee recruiting, training, etc.

    Studies have shown that there are often personal reasons for moving such as a growing family, quality of life or general desire; or perhaps the need to take care of a relative who lives in a faraway location and the CEO would want to move closer to such a location.

    · Have the Board & the CEO considered the environment of Denver, Colorado? There is no direct flight to Denver from Asia while Southern California is a major hub for international airlines.

    · Do they know that snow arrives in Denver around October and generally lasts until April? Living and struggling in snow for more than half of the year is totally different than just going there for a few days.

    · Do they realize that the smog index of Denver is one of the highest in the US as the smog has nowhere else to go?

    · Visitors will also experience high altitude sickness in Denver.

    6. 6. Is this why the Board has chosen to increase due in October, 2016?

    The potential relocation will be funded by Toastmasters International’s investment funds, which have been set aside for such a purpose. The dues increase was put in place to implement all of the services, support and innovation required and requested by current and future members, significant ongoing investments in technology and member and leader support are planned.

    RESPONSE TO ITEM #6 ABOVE

    Since such a fund has been accumulated through the 92 years and clearly has never been considered for moving and getting a new headquarters until recently, we should use the fund to pay for salary increase as the California legislators’ intention to provide a living wage to Toastmasters’ employees.

    CONCLUSION OF ARGUMENT AGAINST PROPOSAL A

    While the Board stated that the Proposal A is to “enable the organization to strategically place World Headquarters in a location that includes access to a growing, diverse and talented workforce while not being restricted to an extremely high-cost environment”, the FAQ statements from the Board provides no justifications on its claims of “extremely high-cost environment” of being in California nor has the Board provided any analysis on cost-benefits of the locations in California and the five states it claimed it had studied.

    The Board also has not justified its decision to relocate the headquarter to Denver, Colorado with any specific statistical analysis of Denver vs Southern California. In fact as detailed analysis above, it shows Denver has high altitude problem for visitors, extreme weather conditions, less diversity, lack of direct flights from Asia and other issues detailed above.

    Since the international regions of Toastmasters have the highest rate of growth of 11.9% as versus an average of 5.9%, it may make sense to move the headquarters to India where the growth is exponential. If Proposal A is passed, there is no reason not to consider moving Toastmasters headquarters overseas such as India.

    Perhaps an advantage of moving the Toastmaster headquarter to Denver is that Colorado has a state income tax of 4.63% while California tax Toastmasters International top officers more than double from 9.30% to 11:30% bearing in mine that in 2014 Daniel Rex, CEO had an increase of 13% to $395,724, Sally Newell-Cohan, COO had an increase of 18% to $240,062 and Hanidreza Farajian, Technology Director had an increase of 41% to $215,415. These figures are exclusive of benefits paid to the officers. The benefits to the officers is significant if Toastmasters headquarter is moved to Colorado.

    Studies have shown that there are often personal reasons for moving such as a growing family, quality of life or general desire; or perhaps the need to take care of a relative who lives in a faraway location and the CEO would want to move closer to such a location.

    Studies have also shown that the cost savings of a new location are almost always less than the relocation costs; in fact the cost are often more than the savings. The Board did not address the major issues of moving the headquarters in the FAQ as to property acquisition, property disposition, employee relocation, employee retention, employee severance, employee recruiting, training, etc.

    Without an in depth studies of the cost analysis of moving the headquarter of Toastmasters International, members of Toastmasters International must vote NO to Proposal A.

    Submitted by Ann Lau, Club 5631
    310-433-0697

  11. Where can I find a copy of the by-laws, and job duties for all employed?
    Since TI is listed as a nonprofit, all the tax returns should be available.
    Can you direct me to TI tax returns for the last 3 Years? . When was the last time TI had an outside audit. If you have 30 million saved, why do the dues keep going up?

    1. All the governing documents are here, including bylaws:

      http://www.toastmasters.org/Leadership-Central/Governing-Documents

      Yes, all tax returns are available, I post them with this blog post each year, the bottom of each links back to the previous year. You can also find them on Charity Navigator:

      http://www.charitynavigator.org/

      There’s an outside audit every year.

      The reserves are for emergencies and major capital projects, not for daily operating costs. You can read more about the reserve policy in the governing documents link above.

      Hope this helps.

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