|
March 2011
The regularly scheduled meeting of the Museum
of Northern Arizona Board of Trustees took place at the Colton House on
Thursday, February 3. Below is my quarterly update designed to keep our members,
patrons and other interested persons generally informed of the activities and
focus of the MNA Board of Trustees.
Endowment Investments
David Westra from Miller/Russell provided
an update of the status of the investments held by the endowments of both MNA
and the MNA Endowment Foundation. (Readers of this report may recall that we
formed the MNA Endowment Foundation a few years ago in an effort to create some
additional separation between the oversight of MNA operational functions and the
oversight of our permanently restricted endowment funds. While MNA EF serves as
a support organization for MNA, it is a separate entity with a separate Board of
Directors) Mr. Westra reported on the current investment of the funds; their
asset mix, their recent and historical performance and also a few changes that
they believe are appropriate in the current state of the economy and the
financial markets. Generally speaking, the values of investments within our
endowments have recovered nicely along with the general increase in values in
the financial markets since the dramatic downturn which occurred in late 2008
and early 2009. The Board continues to believe that the strategic asset
allocation that has been adopted by both MNA as well as that which has been
adopted by the MNA Endowment Foundation (which are very similar) is appropriate
and should provide a long term return of 5% plus inflation, which is what is
necessary to support an annual 5% draw from our endowment funds.
Audit
LaVelle McCoy, Chairman of the Audit
Committee, introduced representatives of MNA’s new audit firm, Mayer Hoffman
McCann, who were in attendance to present their findings from the audit they
recently conducted for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010. They reported
that the MNA audit report received an unqualified opinion on the consolidated
financial statements of MNA and MNA Endowment Foundation. Given the “fresh set
of eyes” that new auditors contribute to organizations such as ours, the Board
was pleased to receive and discuss several recommendations that were made which
could have the effect of providing some additional operational benefits. The
Board was also very interested in some data that was presented giving
information about industry/museum norms and averages which allowed the Board to
see this broadly based data in relationship to results from MNA.
Director’s Report
Dr. Breunig submitted a written report
which outlined various exhibits and events which had occurred since the last
Board meeting as well as those being planned. Two future exhibits of note
include “A:shwi A:wan Ulohnanne: The Zuni World;” which is a fascinating Zuni
map art exhibit opening on February 25 and also “Grand Archaeology-Excavation
and Discovery along the Colorado River.” It is an exhibition which documents the
archaeological project that MNA archaeologists led over the past five years in
the Grand Canyon and will open this spring at the Kolb Studio in Grand Canyon
National Park. Dr. Breunig announced plans for the continuation of improvements
at the Harold S. Colton Research Center Campus. The next phase (Phase III) will
include additional improvements to the parking area on the east end of the
research campus and the rehabilitation of the historic Powell Building into labs
and offices for the biology/ecology program. These additional improvements are
still in the planning and cost estimate stage. He also reported on the
continuation of the flow of collections into the Easton Collection Center. He
reported that the prehistoric pottery collection should be completely moved by
mid-February and the herbarium (pressed plant) collection has already been
completely moved. The entomology (insect) collection, historic pottery
collection and Hopi kachina doll collection will all begin their move this
spring. Significant work continues on the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) as the museum works with tribes as well as the US
Forest Service to accomplish the repatriation of human remains and their
associated funerary objects. The US Forest Service has provided funds for this
project which is currently scheduled to extend into 2012. Additionally, Dr.
Breunig announced that MNA has executed a 5 year lease agreement with James
Turrell for use of the Caretaker’s Cottage as a temporary residence and archival
facility. He also announced that Mr. Turrell is now an Artist in Residence at
MNA. Lastly, he reported that the MNA online shop is not yet ready to go “live”
but that much behind the scenes work is being completed in hopes of getting it
up and running this spring.
Finance and Investment
In reviewing the latest financial results,
it was noted that donations, shop sales and admissions revenues are all running
behind our 2010-2011 plan. While we are still hopeful that getting on-line with
our Museum Shop this year will help us make up ground on that component,
securing more donors that contribute to our general, unrestricted operating fund
continues to be our biggest challenge and the one that requires the most
attention. The Finance and Investment Committee also recommended that the Board
authorize the transfer to MNA EF the remaining permanently restricted endowment
funds that MNA holds. A review was recently conducted to confirm documentation
regarding status of all such funds as well as those which are considered
“quasi-endowment” funds (meaning they are endowment funds not restricted by
donors but restricted by previous Boards). The Board approved the recommended
transfer. Now all permanently restricted endowment funds of MNA have been
transferred to MNA EF and the only endowment funds continuing to be held by MNA
are the “quasi-endowment” funds mentioned.
MNA EF
Jim Reed, President of MNA Endowment
Foundation, made his annual report on the activities and actions of MNA EF for
the past year. While there was nothing significant which occurred that required
discussion, Mr. Reed reported that there had been some minor language changes to
the MNA EF Investment Policy and also that the MNA EF Board was planning to do a
review of the Bylaws to see if any changes should be considered. He reminded the
MNA Board that any suggested changes to the Bylaws that may be contemplated
would not only need to be approved by the Board of MNA EF but would also need to
also be approved by the MNA Board of Trustees. There was discussion about a
desire to perhaps grow the size of the MNA EF Board in an effort to involve more
individuals within our region with MNA and also about the possibility of looking
to the Board of MNA EF to become more of a fundraising resource for the museum.
Governance
The Governance Committee presented its
recommendations for candidates for the Trustee positions that are to be voted on
by the membership in the upcoming April 2 membership meeting. The candidates
recommended are: W. David Connell (re-election), Kent Corbin, Frank Garcia,
Ramson Lomatewama and Jim Reed (re-election). While there is also an open
Trustee position due to a recent resignation from the Board, the Governance
Committee did not have a candidate at this time to recommend for consideration
to fill that spot. When the Committee does have such a candidate, they will then
make a recommendation to the full Board who would then have the ability to
appoint that person (or some other candidate) to fill the unexpired term. There
was a fairly lengthy and interesting discussion about a provision in the Board’s
Conflict of Interest Policy which could impact Ramson Lamatewama should he be
elected to the MNA Board in the upcoming election. In short, the provision
states that an MNA Trustee cannot offer or consign items they own personally for
sale to or through the Museum Shop. The conclusion of the discussion was that
the policy existed to keep MNA Trustees from potentially using their position or
influence to benefit personally from the resources and clientele of the Museum
Shop. It was not felt that the policy exists to prevent prospective native Board
members who have sold their art to and through MNA for many years to have to
stop doing so in order to serve on the MNA Board of Trustees. The Board decided,
as a result of this discussion, to modify the policy provision to read that no
such sales or consignments could occur “without the prior approval of the full
Board.” The Board believes that this change keeps the “teeth” in the original
purpose of the policy while not causing the policy to have the unintended
consequence of creating a disincentive for a native artist to serve on the MNA
Board.
Fundraising
Henry Roe, Chairman of the Fundraising
Committee, discussed recently enacted changes in the use of senior discounts for
various types of MNA membership. The philosophy behind the change was that while
wanting to maintain an opportunity for seniors to join the museum and to be able
to receive a discount if it is helpful in doing so, it was not felt that such a
discount was necessary for the higher levels of membership which are intended to
be donations in addition to memberships. There was next a broad discussion about
fundraising in general as well as some specifically targeted needs for which
there will be plans made on acquiring the funds necessary to acquire the
financial resources needed.
Land and Facilities
In addition to the exciting transformation
that has been taking place in the Harold S. Colton Research Center (and the
additional phase being contemplated), the Committee has recently had discussion
around the significant needs that exist in the Exhibits building as well as its
the parking lot. A report recently completed by Roberts/Jones on the condition
of the building and the items which they believe need immediate attention was
reviewed and discussed by the Committee. The Committee has asked Roberts/Jones
to attempt to get some good estimates of the cost of each piece of their
recommendation so that the Committee (and the full Board) can consider how to
proceed.
Report of Programs Committee
The Programs Committee recommended the
approval of several accessions to the permanent collection all of which were
approved by the Board.
Report from the Chair
I announced at the Board meeting that I was
calling a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees for Saturday, April 2 in the
early afternoon, prior to the Membership Meeting which has been scheduled on
that date. The purpose of the meeting is to provide Dr. Breunig an opportunity
to outline for the Board what, in the Institutional Plan that was prepared
several years ago, has been completed and what remains to be completed.
This report represents my last such report as
the Chairman of the MNA Board of Trustees. Our Bylaws contemplate that an
individual will only serve in this capacity for two years and when the Board
next meets after the April 2 membership meeting, my second year as Chair will
end. It has been and remains one of the joys of my life to be involved with the
Museum of Northern Arizona and I look forward to remaining involved in the
future.
W. David Connell
Chairman MNA Board of Trustees
|
