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AERC Trade Policy



I have followed with interest the discussions directly related to Donna Snyder Smith vs the AERC Business Policy.  Terry Woolley Howe wrote a very good summation of why AERC is no longer working trades for articles, and I want to thank her for coming forward to explain the AERC policy.  Donna Snyder Smith is one of my friends and I also want to thank her for her informative and very popular articles that have run in Endurance News.  It is unfortunate that the AERC Policy and Donna have become at odds with each other.  It is also unfortunate that our memories are so short, so I will take some space to remind everyone of the real facts.
 
At the 1998 AERC Midyear Meeting, AERC Treasurer-Stagg Newman, announced to the Board that he was investigating procedures for AERC to declare BANKRUPTCY and subsequent reorganization.  The entire Board was taken by surprise (that tells you how misinformed we were about the financial status of AERC).  As Vice President I took that announcement as a personal challenge.  With the help of some dedicated AERC members -Directors and membership - we developed the Sponsorship Program and a membership drive to increase our numbers.  Previous solutions to financial problems always involved dues increases and new registration fees such as the horse registration but they only served as stop gap measures. 
 
Subsequently, in 1999 when I was elected President the most important thing I did was put in place the Finance Committee, chaired by Vicki Rutter with Jerry Fruth and Carlos Crespo as members, along with Mike Tomlinson as AERC Treasurer.  This committee rewrote our financial policies..Vicki did a complete audit and researched our financial history back ten years to learn how we had mismanaged AERC up to its current status.  Beginning with the 1999 AERC Administration, we dedicated ourselves to running AERC like a business rather than a backyard club.  To that end we have strictly followed our new Financial Policies, we developed Sponsorship income, we promoted new membership growth, and we put in place cost saving measures...all these actions continue to this day.  1999 saw a 20% increase in new membership and about a $62,000.00 end of year profit, and this year we should see a much larger year end profit. 
 
However, we must learn from our experiences and the major lesson of the last two years is we will not survive and continue to grow if we don't operate AERC as a business.  Can we afford to trade advertising space for articles?..Well, yes we can at the moment.  Is it good business practice?..... No!  .. because it only leads to negative income flow and that is what brought AERC to the edge of Bankruptcy.   Eventually a dues increase to support all that AERC provides may be necessary but I am in favor of the current policy of cost saving measures.
 
How does this relate to trade outs and Donna SS, etc?    There are many excellent articles that are now being provided to AERC at little or no cost.  These articles are both educational and informative.  As an example, Susan Garlinghouse provides articles at no cost to AERC and I believe you will agree that they provide some of the most important and informative educational material we print.  I understand that Ken Marcella will be providing articles, too.  Our Media Committee is working to gather and provide other educational and informative articles for AERC.  I believe that Donna Snyder Smith's articles were excellent and served two purposes...they helped validate the credibility of Endurance News as a premium magazine,, and they served to further Donna's reputation as an internationally acclaimed horseperson, as well as increasing publicity related to her expertise.  In that vein, I believe Donna's articles also served her well as a legitmate advertisement of her expertise and knowledge. As you probably know, your Directors volunteer their expertise to AERC at no charge, those members who serve AERC on various committees do so at no charge to AERC, and Donna has worked for the good of AERC at no charge in the past.  I hope that she will reconsider and continue to provide her excellent articles as her way of supporting the sport that I personally know the loves.
 
Randy Eiland
AERC President


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