Hollinger announces Spring Appeal for Contributions

Has the OAH achieved fiscal integrity? Yes, it has. Were I not able to warrant this, I’d feel much less comfortable issuing this year’s Annual Spring Appeal for contributions. Potential contributors deserve to know that the organization is in good financial order. On behalf of the OAH leadership, I am deeply grateful for your generosity this past year. Generous donations from members who can afford to give are among the reasons the OAH is in much better fiscal shape than last year. But there is more to it.

• We have introduced multiple efficiencies in the operation of the Bloomington office. Our Interim Executive Director Katha Kissman and our new Executive Director Katherine Finley both brought to us extensive experience in nonprofit management. The skills and savvy of these two excellent administrators enabled us to streamline our financial practices, to eliminate duplication in staff functions, and to integrate the operations of OAH employees working on the Journal of American History with those assigned to other OAH enterprises.
• We have concluded an arrangement with Oxford University Press for the publication of the Journal of American History that takes advantage of the economies of scale offered by a major publisher and that establishes a stable foundation for the management of the subscriptions and advertisements that are critical parts of our revenue.
• We have more carefully assessed expenditures and revenue in relation to Annual Meeting, with the result that we actually came out ahead at the recent 2010 meeting in Washington even when attendance was diminished following cuts in travel budgets at the institutions of many of our members.
• We have saved money by publishing the Newsletter in digital form only.

But our ability to make efficient use of your money is not the only reason we invite your philanthropic consideration. The OAH has clarified its direction by adopting a Strategic Plan which the Executive Director and the Executive Board are now implementing. The results will become increasingly visible during the coming year. And, we are still most definitely in an austerity mode. That is, at a time when membership is declining (a trend within all learned organizations, and one we are working to reverse), when institutional subscriptions are diminished (as a result of library budget cuts), and when Annual Meeting registration revenue is significantly down (as a result of losses in travel funds available to many potential registrants) the OAH’s ability to fulfill its mission of promoting excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history remains threatened.

Your contribution to the OAH allows us to keep dues and meeting registration fees low so students and young professors can join the OAH and take advantage of the Annual Meeting.

Please help if you can.