Financial Guidelines

Reimbursements

• All requests or invoices must first be approved by the specialty group/network treasurer or committee chair before we can issue payment.
• Please mail or email a completed Request for Reimbursement form along with all original receipts to:

Mail

AIC
Attn: Finance Director
727 15th St NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005

Email to lbudhinata@culturalheritage.org

Advance Payment

• Advance payments require prior approval from the Specialty Group/Network treasurer or committee chair by email notification or signature on the Advance Payment form.
• Please fill out the Request for Advance Payment form and send to the Finance Manager or Executive Director at least two weeks before payment is needed. Attach a statement of purpose.

Invoices

• All invoices for paid projects require prior approval by the specialty group/network treasurer or committee chair.
• All project costs should be billed directly to AIC. Please alert the finance director when project costs will be billed. We must be made aware in advance of vendors, product requests, contractors, and approximate costs to ensure prompt payment and accurate accountability.
• If possible, estimates from vendors, specialty group/network treasurers, or committee chairs are appreciated. For example, send an email advising the Finance Director that Aptara will be invoicing $x amount to AIC for Textile SG postprints in July.
• Note that groups and committees are not legal entities and cannot enter into contracts. The executive director, or a staff designee, reviews and signs all contracts for services.

Quarterly Reports

• We prepare quarterly reports of all expenses and revenue for each specialty group, committee, and task force. The reports include budgeted items and actual expenses and revenues on a quarterly and year-to-date basis, along with the current reserve balance for specialty groups.
• The reports are emailed directly to each chair and treasurer and posted to the officer communities. If there are no transactions in that quarter, no report will be provided.
• These reports show income and expenses assigned to general accounts. Many specialized expenses may be grouped in a miscellaneous line item. Be sure to keep your own itemized records.
• Any questions or concerns can be sent to the Finance Director.

Budgets

Guidelines for completing the budget worksheet are provided by your staff liaison.

• Budgets are created annually for each specialty group, committee, and task force.
• In July and August, staff liaisons will assist each treasurer and committee chair with designing projected budgets. An email will include past statements, prior year budgets, and guidelines for projecting costs, as well as a budget worksheet template.
• Please feel free to contact the Finance Director or Executive Director with any questions or concerns during the budget process.

Revenue

• Use the figures from the previous year as well as current dues to project your income.
• Our books are kept on the accrual basis, which mean we record revenue when it is earned, not when it is received. This means member dues received in the fall (paying in advance for the next year's membership) will appear in financial statements as revenue for the following calendar year.

Expenses

Annual Meeting

• Use the figures from the previous year to estimate costs.
• Note that audio-visual costs for presentations will drive costs up quickly. If you anticipate needing extra technology for presentations, an Internet connection in the room, and/or technical support for your session, you should budget more. Note that larger cities often charge higher fees for labor and equipment, so costs will fluctuate based on location. A/V contracts are being negotiated by the Meeting Director up to the last minute to get the best price, so actual costs are often not known until just before the meeting.
• Food and beverage costs for breaks and receptions can also fluctuate based on city, location requirements, and caterer availability.
• Contact Ruth Seyler, Meetings & Advocacy Director, at rseyler@culturalheritage.org for details.

Internal Advisory Group (IAG) Meeting

• The meeting is held either virtually via Zoom or in Washington, DC, each year in November. 
• The specialty group, committee, or task force chair is the representative to the meeting. However, they may designate another officer or committee member to attend if they cannot.
• The meeting expenses are paid by specialty groups, while committee and task force travel expenses are planned for in the general AIC budget. The expenses should be included in the Member Travel line item.

Call Expenses

• Email messages and listservs are the most cost-effective means of communication. Conference calls via Zoom may also need to be included in a budget if members do not have their own accounts. 
• Zoom conference calls can be scheduled through your staff liaison. Some groups may choose to pay for a Zoom account through AIC's main account.

Group Lists

• Specialty group member lists are available by contacting Ryan Winfield, Membership Manager, at rwinfield@culturalheritage.org.
• No fee is required for specialty groups requesting their lists. Some groups require mailing lists for publication mailings; please request these lists from Ryan one week in advance.
• Email blasts to group members should be scheduled with staff member Carmina Lamare-Bertrand, Communications Coordinator, at carmina@culturalheritage.org.

Donations

Stout

• Each group with dues income typically contributes to the George Stout Fund, which provides financial support for students to attend the Annual Meeting or related conferences.
• A budget line appears for Stout on budget worksheets and financial reports.

Professional Development

• Each group with dues income is encouraged to give to the Professional Development fund.
• A budget line appears on budget worksheets and financial reports for this contribution.

Other Line Items

• We use a standard chart of accounts for tracking activities. If your specialty group or committee is projecting expenses that do not seem to fit in one of the accounts, please contact your staff liaison. Additional line items can be added if necessary.

• If you are undertaking a special project with multiple expenses, you may want to maintain a separate project budget that ties into your overall budget. So, for instance, if your special project involves travel, you will want to track those expenses in your special project budget, in addition to your Member Travel line item (which will also include travel to IAG).

 If your staff liaison is unable to answer, please direct financial inquiries to the attention of:

• Linda Budhinata, Finance Director, 202-661-8067, lbudhinata@culturalheritage.org
• Tiffani Emig, Deputy Director, 202-750-3346, temig@culturalheritage.org

Budget questions can be directed to your staff liaison, or to one of the above contacts.

--March 2023