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State
Bar Financials
The Numbers
Here's a look at the State Bar's audited financial picture for FY 01, July
1, 2000 - June 30, 2001.
by George C. Brown,
State Bar executive director
EVERY YEAR
THE STATE BAR financials are audited by a certified public accounting firm
and the summary of the results is published in the Wisconsin Lawyer. The
Wisconsin Supreme Court requires this be done, as it should for a mandatory
membership organization. The Bar's fiscal year ends on June 30.
On the revenue side, only 40 percent of the State Bar's income is derived
from dues. The remaining 60 percent of revenues comes from the sale of
CLE seminars and books, advertising in this magazine, the annual convention,
and an array of smaller revenue streams, such as LRIS panel fees, interest,
and consumer pamphlet sales.
Not surprisingly, the single largest expenditure is for staff, just as you
would find in any law office or other service business. The vast majority
of staff spend their time providing direct service to members or supporting
those staff members who provide that service. For example, you are attending
a live CLE seminar about a new statute that recently was passed into law.
Your experience includes listening to the speakers, who are members, not
staff, and reviewing the materials in the seminar notebook, and maybe enjoying
a doughnut and a cup of coffee. The only staff people you will see is the
person greeting and registering you on-site and the person introducing the
program - who likely is the seminar attorney, a staff member, who planned
the program. You don't see the meeting planner who negotiated the room contract
and room set-up; the administrative assistant who made sure the materials
were printed and available at the program; the media specialist who set
up the microphones, the PowerPoint computer, and perhaps is running the
video camera; the off-site registrar who made sure that you were registered
and will receive the CLE credits for the program by registering it with
the Board of Bar Examiners; the accounting staff who processed your credit
card and credited your account; the order fulfillment staffer who shipped
the notebooks to your location; the designer who produced the brochure,
advertisement, or article that told you about the seminar; or even the lobbyist
who worked with the State Bar section leaders to pass the new law - the
subject of your seminar - through the Legislature and the governor.
The Bar's single largest expense this year is iMIS. That's not a misprint.
It's the name of the new association software package that went live the
week of Sept. 24. This package has provided us the opportunity to begin
to streamline operations, improve our ability to manage information, and
create a platform for the creation of a fully functioning e-commerce system,
so that when you place an order with your State Bar over the Internet,
you can be assured that it will be processed quickly, efficiently, and
accurately.
And that boils down to better member service for you.
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