Treasurer's Report - June 2011

- by Douglas Wylie

Dear Members,


To begin I would like to thank you for your continued trust and support in my role as Treasurer. For the benefit of those that were not able to attend the recent AGM in Vancouver, this report summarizes my presentation.

The year 2010 was a year of orientation for me as I took over the responsibilities with the Council for the financial aspects of the Society. I thank Mark McAlister, France Beaucage and all Council members for their support, and for the extensive work that we did over the year.

In April I was able to attend the Annual General Meeting of the General Anthroposophical Society in Dornach as well as the annual meeting of the Treasurers of the National Societies. These meetings gave me a greater appreciation for the importance of supporting the heritage and current work at the Goetheanum as a solid foundation for the Anthroposophical work done in the world.

When I took on the role of Treasurer, I noticed a somewhat ambiguously worded question on the information return to the Canadian Revenue Agency. To determine the course of action needed we, the Council, decided to engage a lawyer. He was able to confirm that the Society has been indicating incorrectly about sending money outside the country. The point in question is around sending monies to the Goetheanum as part of our membership in the world organization. The rules stipulated by the Canada Revenue Agency regarding how we steward our money are very explicit.

In working with Paul Mackay on the question over the AGM weekend in Vancouver we became clear on a course of action. We will now follow up on the possibility of creating a Canadian Charitable Society within the General Anthroposophical Society centred at the Goetheanum. This is the successful solution that the society in the United States came to in order to meet regulations there.

The financial statement for 2010, as compiled by our Accounting firm, Clarke and Kaprelian, was presented and approved by the members present at the AGM. The budget for 2011 and 2012, as mailed to the membership, was also formally accepted. All these documents can be viewed on our website.
The information return for 2010 and the corrected return for 2009 will now be completed and submitted.

Some of the goals for 2011 are as follows:

• Review stewardship arrangements where needed in order to make the expenditures done at the local level transparent and to ensure that we are in line with the rules of the Canadian Revenue Agency in this regard.

• Investigate options for our term deposit investments to determine if DUCA Credit Union remains the best option.

• The Council to review Anthroposophical Society in Canada’s financial policies and bylaws.