Report to ACAL Executive
October 2005
Membership
The membership trend
over the last 5 years has declined each year, except for 2004/5 when the
membership for the year was included in the WAALC Conference 2004 registration
fee. The 2004/5 membership was up to 49 individuals and 4 organisations. For
the current year, 2005/6, we have 18 financial members. It is anticipated that a few more people will
pay up before the end of the year.
Finances
Income from membership fees is reducing as membership declines. For each of the last two years, expenditure has exceeded income.
Balance as at
In 2004/5 the greatest expenditure was on Sponsorship to assist delegates for the ACAL National Conference - $2045. In 2003-2004 the total amount spent on Sponsorship was $2894. Of this total amount, $900 was allocated to sponsor to the WAALC State Conference in 2004. The last State Conference was held in May 2004 and ran at a loss of $124.
Communication
Newsletter changed from hard copy to electronic format. Issued bi-monthly.
Website
Sponsorship
Three individual delegates to the Connecting Voices Conference
Activities
·
New initiative: holding Professional
Conversation events. This was initiated
at the AGM which was held at a restaurant and included a Guest Speaker
(Aboriginal English) followed by an on-going, over-dinner conversation. The next event is a Book Club, again meeting
in a restaurant to discuss John Mighton’s The Myth of Ability.
·
Supported the Connecting Voices conference in
· Provided input into the DEST consultations on the LLNP
Issues
Strengths
·
On-going commitment of individuals
·
Committee members work roles mean that
perspectives from a range of agencies are represented
· Interest from members in becoming involved in national debates (eg staff skills)
·
Differentiation of roles (eg President is not a
Departmental employee).
Weaknesses
· Small committee – all positions are not filled.
· Very little renewal of committee members.
· Everyone is really busy.
· Declining membership
· Declining revenue
Opportunities
· Redesign the grass roots appeal
· Foster relationship with Aboriginal English Project Team
· Explore opportunities to use the Literacy Live meeting room for professional conversations
Threats
No viable financial
base exists except for our efforts in organising conferences. There are a number of state conferences that
compete with our events, reducing the numbers that can attend. The workload of organising large events is
daunting for a small committee. Unless alternate methods of generating income and membership is
identified, we will need to continue to be very strategic about the issues we
address.
WAALC Contact details
Phone contact:
Fax: Attention
Email:
Postal:
Web: www.waalc.com.au