End of the annual report?

[RiverAux]

Word on the street is that CAP will no longer be publishing an annual report as we have for many years.  Instead we're going to do a financial report with a bunch of happy-go lucky boilerplate public affairs blurbs and cute pictures. 

So, those of you who like some facts and figures about what we have done are going to be out of luck.  Future CAP historians with an interest in annual cash flow will have plenty to work with though. 

For a comparison, see http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/cap_national_hq/cap_reports/

At a minimum can't we produce a non-glossy annual report with some actual historical materials in it?  Heck we've got a nice regulation telling our national historical staff exactly how to do it. 

In fact, I wonder why hasn't NHQ been producing a history using the same format that they mandate?  Sure, that sort of thing isn't going to be what you want to turn in to Congress, but that report is really a public affairs publication more than a historical one. 

Not to be too critical of our national level historians (I know there has been a major turnover recently so its not exactly their fault), but wouldn't something like that be a tad more on point that designing badges and adding to the patch collection? 

[FW]

I haven't heard that one before.  Congress mandates an annual report to congress which is usually delivered by the winter NB meeting.  I guess we're going to have to wait until then to find out what will be included. 

[RiverAux]

One could argue that the financial report would probably satisfy the letter of the law even if it doesn't fully meet the spirit of it. 

[Spike]

That is a shame if it is true.  However that does free some Cash for important studies on what uniform to get rid of next and the ability to higher another CAP employee to run the "Alumni Association", that will most likely not return the money CAP will ultimately dump into it.   

[Ned]

That is a shame if it is true.  However that does free some Cash for important studies on what uniform to get rid of next and the ability to higher another CAP employee to run the "Alumni Association", that will most likely not return the money CAP will ultimately dump into it.   

Gosh, your enthusiasm is infectious.

But for those who care more about truth than bad-mouthing NHQ at every opportunity, not a single nickel of corporate funds has been sent on developing an Alumni Association, and the plans call for it to stand up and run with a positive cash flow without any investment from CAP or the taxpayers.

[RiverAux]

C'mon national level historians, any confirmation of this horrible, horrible idea?

[PHall]

C'mon national level historians, any confirmation of this horrible, horrible idea?

Okay, I'll bite, why is this a "horrible, horrible idea"?

[James Shaw]

Word on the street is that CAP will no longer be publishing an annual report as we have for many years.  Instead we're going to do a financial report with a bunch of happy-go lucky boilerplate public affairs blurbs and cute pictures. 

So, those of you who like some facts and figures about what we have done are going to be out of luck.  Future CAP historians with an interest in annual cash flow will have plenty to work with though. 

For a comparison, see http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/cap_national_hq/cap_reports/

At a minimum can't we produce a non-glossy annual report with some actual historical materials in it?  Heck we've got a nice regulation telling our national historical staff exactly how to do it. 

In fact, I wonder why hasn't NHQ been producing a history using the same format that they mandate?  Sure, that sort of thing isn't going to be what you want to turn in to Congress, but that report is really a public affairs publication more than a historical one. 

Not to be too critical of our national level historians (I know there has been a major turnover recently so its not exactly their fault), but wouldn't something like that be a tad more on point that designing badges and adding to the patch collection?

If they ask us to help with this stuff than we will be more than happy to do the best job we can.

[RiverAux]

C'mon national level historians, any confirmation of this horrible, horrible idea?

Okay, I'll bite, why is this a "horrible, horrible idea"?

Well, I guess I'm assuming that it is generally accepted that recording our organization's history is a good idea and that therefore doing away with the primary historical document produced by our organization is a horrible idea. 

[Ned]

FWIW, true story.

Two years ago I was doing some research for the Alumni Association idea and decided to go to the horse's mouth to get some historical membership figures.

So I went to the Library of Congress and asked to see every one of the Reports to Congress.  After a brief delay, the librarian brought me every single copy on file at the LoC - all five of them!

Somehow with all of this "reporting to Congress" we have done ever since Spaatz was chairman of the national board, Congress has not felt much of a need to keep track of our reports.

I advised NHQ to make sure they go out of their way to send copies to the Library.

Not sure what to make of it - just an interesting factoid.

Ned Lee
Holder of a Library of Congress Reader card.

[James Shaw]

C'mon national level historians, any confirmation of this horrible, horrible idea?

Thi is the first I have have heard of the idea. I do know that we have all of the ARC on disc now and will be available for research at some time.

[Capt Rivera]

Looks like we have "  2009 Wing Newsletters to Congress" posted... but no Annual Report yet...

Was there one not posted yet or are they really gone?

[sardak]

The "Report to Congress" was not distributed to Congress on the Legislative Day before the Winter Boards last month. Supposedly they will be printed at the same time as the financial report sometime in April or May. But is the "Newsletter to Congress" something in the interim or a real replacement?

Mike

[RiverAux]

The annual report is absolutely dead.
The financial report will be what is sent to Congress.  If you haven't looked at one recently, it is mostly just fluff about what CAP does in general and then goes into great detail on finances (as you might expect).  Say goodbye to somewhat useful historical records of membership numbers and mission activity. 

[Eclipse]

If the complaint is not physically printing a glossy magazine, so be it.  Its 2010, let's not kill a bunch of trees and dollars printing and mailing something few will read anyway.

If the complaint is that the document itself won't be created, nor the information available in some form, I support you in that there's no reason it shouldn't be and then distributed electronically.

[RiverAux]

Document will not be created. 
As I suggested earlier, this would be fine if CAP were actually producing an annual historical report similar to what CAP units are supposed to do.  Something like that would actually be way more valuable than the report we've been sending to Congress. 

[Capt Rivera]

With all the things the NB votes on you would think they would need to vote on this... I would never assume a report to congress could just stop...

It seems like such a bad idea... I would not think my Wing CC or many others would actually support this...

Would the public trust task force support it?

Any one know anything more... The only thing I found was its mention in the Ex Open Cockpit.


Open Cockpit Jan- Mar 2010

PUBLIC AWARENESS DIRECTORATE
Director: Marc Huchette – mhuchette@capnhq.gov

2010 CAP Legislative Day:  This year's Legislative Day will feature customized handouts for each of CAP's 52 wings. The handouts will include highlights of the wing's accomplishments over the past year and data of interest to elected officials in Congress, such as the wing's cadet and senior membership, number of squadrons, aircraft by type, saves and funding. Full contact information is provided for each wing, as well as the names and e-mail addresses for leadership at the wing, regional and national levels. The handouts also provide an overview of achievements related to CAP's three congressionally mandated missions of emergency services, cadet programs and aerospace education. This information will be posted online and made available for use by all wings for communications, marketing and promotional purposes.


2009 CAP Financial Report:  The CAP Financial Report will be available this spring. Published as a full-color booklet, the back section will detail CAP's finances for the previous fiscal year, illustrating the organization's accountability and fiscal austerity, while the first section will present a view-book format of photos with deep captions and lively, succinct copy to detail the myriad ways in which CAP serves its fellow citizens. The report, which replaces CAP's Annual Report to Congress, will feature sections on search and rescue, disaster relief, homeland security, cadet training, aerospace education, the chaplain corps, counterdrug missions, technology, safety, professional development, public service projects like Wreaths Across America, and renowned members. Sections will be designed to be self-contained for easy printing from CAP's Web site to use for marketing and recruitment.

[Pylon]

With all the things the NB votes on you would think they would need to vote on this... I would never assume a report to congress could just stop...

Deciding to stop an annual report to congress that we've done every year since our founding?  That's just a staffer-level decision.  Nobody really needs to know or be notified.    However, moving pins and patches around our uniform, that requires executive-level involvement and a vote by our entire board of corporate officers. 

Priorities?  Check.

[FW]

The only thing I can imagine is, the Annual Financial Report will have the same data the old "ARC" did with more financial data added showing congress how fiscally apt we are. 
I'm eagerly awaiting a copy.

[Capt Rivera]

The only thing I can imagine is, the Annual Financial Report will have the same data the old "ARC" did with more financial data added showing congress how fiscally apt we are. 
I'm eagerly awaiting a copy.

I guess only time will tell what we will actually get...

So why not include all the financial data into the ARC?
- The title Annual Report to Congress would/could include within the contents anything we choose/are required to report. (including financial data)

I'm fine with a consolidation of documents...

I can take a copy of our ARC and convince the local, university and AF Base library to archive it. I don't think I will be successful with something that appears on the cover as just a financial report... Every respoectable organization has some sort of financial report (internal or external or both) How many make reports to congress? The title of the document can speak volumes to someone who does not know as much as we all think we know... 

If the goal is to combine documents, I think they should reconsider the nomenclature


So now that staffer "x" has saved either time or money for CAP by discontinuing the two documents, where are we shifting those resources?

What I'm getting at is that there is no reason to do this unless there are quantifiable benefits.

What are the bennifits exactly?
Will they trickle down / help the paying volunteer in someway?

Assuming Joe Staffer freed up "x" man hours... what exactly will he do with them or will we be paying him the same amount to do less work?