Below is a copy of an email that was sent today, June 19, 2019, to the national board on behalf of SPJ DC and others.
Our informal group of local chapter leaders has recently raised other concerns to the national board.
Those concerns are about transparency and leadership concerns. See here and here.
Here is our latest email to the board.
Dear national SPJ board,
Our informal group of local leadership would like to make sure that you all know that over approximately the past year, there have been unusual delays in the national Society of Professional Journalists remitting to local chapters dues that local chapters’ members pay when joining or renewing their membership. This appeared to have begun at around the time that Executive Director Joe Skeel resigned to accept another job, and more important, appears to be continuing.
As we all know, local dues are the way that SPJ members directly fund the ongoing operations of the association’s local chapters. Although this issue has been flagged previously and informally by local representatives to national leadership, this apparently systemic problem has not been resolved. Nor has the scope of this problem, a timeline to fix it and an assessment of why it occurred and continues been shared with SPJ’s members who are paying these dues that are not being used for their intended purpose.
Overall, SPJ appears to be about six months behind on such payments. This is based on my attempted census of every professional SPJ chapter in the U.S. Most chapters that responded to this informal census reported that the last funds they had received from national were for dues paid through approximately September 2018. Only one chapter that has local dues and responded to my survey reported being current in receiving SPJ payments.
We ask that these delayed payments not become the norm. We also ask that SPJ return to the past practice of sending such payments to the mailing addresses for each local chapter, not to board members’ homes, as we believe that this is a financial best practice. We also ask that SPJ correct any problems that prevent chapters from learning about new members as those members join; that make it difficult for chapters to learn about the current number of their members; and that prevent chapters from communicating with each other because contact information for SPJ’s national and local boards and other personnel as listed on the association’s website continues to be outdated despite requests for corrections and updated information. I am happy to help with any efforts to correct this information, which also includes email addresses for members of the national board.
We ask that the national board report to the full SPJ membership: the scope of this problem; a timeline to fix it; and an assessment of why it occurred. We believe that SPJ’s dues paying members are entitled to such information in a timely and transparent manner. We also ask that SPJ inform members of any ongoing problems with keeping chapters updated and of efforts to solve this.
To assist in any efforts to resolve this issue, the following information has been reported to me as of June 18, 2019:
— The D.C. Pro Chapter received most recently, a few months ago, a check for Q2 and Q3 2018 dues. This check was received after SPJ DC asked national for such payments. It was sent to the home address of a local board member (me), not to the post office box the chapter maintains in part to receive such payments. The check also was personally signed by SPJ’s then-executive director, Alison Bethel-McKenzie, who has since resigned in an unrelated move.
— The Cleveland Pro Chapter last received, in February, a check from SPJ that appears to be for Q3 2018. It was sent to the home address of a local board member.
— The Hawaii Pro Chapter most recently received, several months ago, payments made to the national office by the chapter’s members through Sept. 22, 2018.
— The Oklahoma Pro Chapter received two checks in February at a board member’s personal address. These checks were for dues for Q2 and Q3 2018.
— After San Antonio Pro contacted SPJ HQ staff, the chapter received in March local dues for Q2 and Q3 2018.
— The most recent dues check the Fort Worth Pro Chapter received was written in February 2019 for Q2 2018 dues.
— The Chicago Headline Club has not received dues it is owed for Q4 2018 and Q1 2019.
— The last dues check the Maryland Pro chapter has received, a few months ago, covered Q3 2018.
— The Detroit chapter reports it has not received local dues from national in over a year.
Submitted by Jonathan Make, immediate past president, SPJ DC;
on behalf of local leadership including:
the SPJ DC Pro Chapter,
SPJ Florida,
Chicago Headline Club,
San Antonio Pro,
the board of the San Diego Pro Chapter,
and Louisiana Pro Chapter;
Hawaii Pro Chapter’s Stirling Morita, president; Nancy Cook Lauer, vice president; and Steven Petranik, treasurer;
Anna Walsh, president, Maryland Pro,
and
John M. Brewer, member, Oklahoma Pro Chapter.
UPDATE:
Added as signatories to this email are also SPJ Detroit and Amanda Waldroupe, president of SPJ Oregon.