MTNA: Music Teachers National Association.(Association News)(Editorial)

Dear Members:

The MTNA board of directors unanimously approved the operating budget for the 2004-2005 fiscal year at its regular summer meeting. Due to the prudent management of MTNA funds by the MTNA Board and Executive Director Gary Ingle, the financial picture for MTNA is very healthy. The MTNA finance committee, a sub-committee of the board of directors, makes recommendations to the board of directors in regard to all expenditures and monitors the budget throughout the year. It is comprised of the secretary-treasurer who serves as chair, the president, the immediate past president, the president-elect and one director elected from the board (Roy Wylie). The Executive Director, Gary Ingle, is an ex-officio, without vote, member of the finance committee.

MTNA is primarily a dues-driven association--that is, more than half of its operating income is derived from dues revenue. As you can see from the information on the next page, MTNA hopes to generate 52 percent of its income from dues, while the rest primarily comes from the national conference, publications and royalties/sales. This additional income beyond dues allows MTNA to fund the programs and services we provide to the membership more fully than we could if we relied solely upon dues income. In fact, 72 percent of our income supports programs and services, while only 24 percent funds our administrative costs.

Programs and services include such areas as the ASCAP licensing fees for all our affiliated associations, general liability insurance for events sponsored by all our affiliated associations, composer commissioning matching awards for state associations, IRS 501(c)(3) group exemption capability for all our affiliated associations, plus general program funding for national programs. Individual members benefit from our newly revised Code of Ethics and the MTNA Assessment Tools for the Independent Music Teacher, as well as the Music for Everyone Programs, national competitions programs, our national conference with expanded group teaching and technology formats and our enhanced website, just to mention a few services.

We have substantially increased our budgeted expenses for the MTNA website, for our general programs, which include Arts Awareness and Advocacy, Collaborative Artists, College Faculty, Collegiate Chapters, Independent Music Teachers and Local Associations, for membership development and retention and marketing/public relations for the current fiscal year. This will allow us to better serve our diversified membership.

The MTNA Board of Directors and the dedicated staff under Gary Ingle strive to ensure that our financial resources are utilized in the best interests of MTNA and its members. We are committed to providing services and resources to our members that will give them the most benefit for their dollars. MTNA is the collective voice for our profession!

Cordially,