Colleen Harper, Executive Director of the IES, informed your humble editor today of a significant operational change at the IES. Earlier in the week, Colleen explained, “The Board of Directors approved a shift of our fiscal year from July 1-June 30 (current) to January 1-December 31 effective this January 1, 2024.”
The change helps align IES’s fiscal year with that of many of their partners, which, according to Colleen, will allow IES to streamline and improve their annual budgeting process. She elaborated, “The current timing is difficult for volunteer leaders to understand when it comes to event planning and preparation, and also tends to cause our events to be afterthoughts for companies when they are budgeting, as we typically contact them during our own budgeting process and not during theirs. Additionally, given the importance of LightFair to our bottom line, it is exceedingly difficult to budget for it more than a year from the start of the event. (For example, we had to budget for the May 2023 LightFair in the spring of 2022.)”
A notable side effect of the change is the extension of terms of the current officers at both the Headquarters and Section levels. The IES bylaws state that their governance year must align with their fiscal year. Thus, current officers will serve through the end of 2024 – an 18-month term instead of the typical 12 months. Colleen noted, “The IES staff and Regional Directors are ready and prepared to help our Section volunteers navigate this shift to whatever extent they need assistance.”