By Alan Rabb | BRN 404
A message from your International Finance Director.
Hello everyone! I hope this communication finds everyone doing well. I wanted to drop everyone a short note and give y’all an update on mid-year finances and where we are with the financial health of our club.
As of June 30, we have accomplished our membership plan (both members and income) for 2025. We planned a balanced budget for the first time in more than eight years. This year, we created three distinct sets of books for our club. These are a set of books for the club (ACI), Caravan and International Rally — they all have their own income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. Each business will operate their own sets of books each year. As a part of the ACI budget, we intentionally planned contributions to our three reserves – operational, software and capital. To date, we are on track with our contributions to the reserves and our reserve balances have increased from $200,000 as of late last year to over $300,000 thru July 2025. We have also reduced our mortgage by over $80,000 this year.
One of the more significant financial savings in our budget is the recognition of annual savings of more than $150,000 per year for credit card banking fees. This was accomplished three ways. First, caravan banking fees are now included as a part of the cost of what you pay when you pay your fees via credit card. Second: banking fees for the International Rally will now have a 3% convenience fee for all card transactions. Last: effective September 1, 2025, when renewing your annual international and club dues, a 3% service fee will be added to your total cost when using a credit card.
Summary – As a headline, we have increased our controls and accountability system, have balanced budgets for all three businesses, our expenses are under control, the three reserves are increasing and our debt is going down. The club is well on its way to better financial health. We have accomplished this through a dedicated and committed International Board of Trustees (IBT), headquarters staff and finance committee. Our finance committee is fully staffed and working for all of you on a daily basis.
Below is your finance committee and their responsibilities:
Alan Rabb, Region 3: Chair of the finance committee.
Shawn Blom, Region 12: Quarter/year-end closing and special projects.
Craig Fegley, Region 9: Banking, payment platforms and special projects.
Christine Kirk, Region 11: Insurance, communications, strategy and special projects.
Sally MacDonald, Region 12: Policy, procedure, records retention, national treasurer’s handbook, treasurer’s forums and special projects.
Timi Ann Neri, Region 1: Caravan Liaison support and special projects.
Millie O’Donnell, Region 9: EC liaison.
We have accomplished a lot over the last year, and I am very proud of the work this team has done to manage expenses and increase controls.
To more fully understand what your finance team has done and is doing, I would encourage everyone to watch and participate in IBT meetings and review the past meeting information on our website.
As always, if there are any questions, please reach out to me, a member of your finance committee or a member of your IBT.
