Bylaws Update

Women’s Council of REALTORS® Dues Increase Proposal

In 2022, the Executive Committee and the Leadership Team put a motion before the membership to increase our National dues. The vote was narrowly defeated. As your 2023 Treasurer, I, along with the Leadership Team, have thoroughly reviewed our financial status and confirm that for the financial health of the Women’s Council of REALTORS®, we the Leadership Team and the Executive Committee will bring a new motion forward to the Governing Board at our Midyear Meeting next month for a dues increase, to be effective in 2024.

It is critical to plan for our sustainable future with an increase of our yearly dues.

The national interest in the Council is at an all-time high with eight new networks in 2022. As our association continues to grow, it is essential to plan for continued success. We all are very aware of the skyrocketing costs and the uncertain stock market. Over the past few years, the Council has cut back to a bare bones budget for staff, programs, new programs, speakers, rent etc. We have always done a lot with a little and we are all good stewards of the members’ dues dollars. It is time to move forward and increase our budget to today’s costs and to a more stable future.

1. The Council finished 2022 with an operating loss.

2. Our reserve account, while still above our minimum requirements, suffered a negative gain (unrealized loss) last year reflecting the overall investment markets and following similar performance in 2021.

3. While our website and database are areas of utmost focus, we spent roughly double what was budgeted assessing the system’s overall viability and working toward correcting the system to perform as expected.

4. Most of our resources go to national meetings which has been impacted severely by inflation with cost increases of up to 30 percent or more.

5. Inflation continues to impact our costs across our budget with overall increased costs in supply, airfare, food and hotel and staff. The cost of member/network services have increased similarly.

6. We have historically held approximately six months operating expenses as a floor in our reserve account. During COVID we discovered it is necessary to be prepared for greater financial stability and we should work toward increasing that amount to a year of operating reserves. We were fortunate to have received a one-time PPP grant in 2021, which sustained us in those lean times.

7. We did not anticipate or budget for a new CEO search and all the associated cost of replacing our CEO. Because of good stewardship of Council funds in the past, we have cash on hand to cover these unforeseen expenses in 2023 (as we did the technology costs in 2022). Yet as we continue to utilize those funds, we will not have that option in the future.

8. We are currently understaffed and to continue to move forward with new and existing projects in our strategic plan, we need to hire another staff person.

Since many of you serve on local and state association boards, you are aware that many, if not most, associations budgeted for a decrease in membership for 2023. The way our organization works we tend to lag industry trends with regard to membership levels. We still have strong membership levels in 2023 as mentioned above, but we do expect some potential headwinds with regard to membership numbers for 2024 and need to plan accordingly.

The previous motion in November 2022 was to increase our National Dues by $25. In fact, after reviewing the year-end finances in more detail, the Leadership Team and Executive Committee has determined that $30 is a more appropriate number given our new level of elevated expenses, which are unlikely to subside, and a potential lower membership number for 2024. Should our membership levels hold or continue to grow beyond our projections for next year, this also offers us an opportunity to shore up our reserves in the future. Rest assured, the Leadership Team has a firm grasp on our financial status and outlook and stabilizing our technology challenges is a top priority for the Leadership Team. As stewards of the Council’s future, we all feel it is imperative that this increase passes at our next meeting in May in order to continue operations at current levels into next year and beyond.

This increase would be effective for 2024 and billed in November of this year.

Should you have any questions, please reach out to either Jamie Saltman, our Interim CEO, or me directly.

Respectfully,

Cheryl Keller
2023 National Treasurer