THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FORUM (10/12/97)

THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FORUM

Statement and appeal of the UNA Auditing Committee

The Auditing Committee of the Ukrainian National Association - consisting of Stefan Hawrysz, William Pastuszek, Stefania Hewryk, Anatole Doroshenko and Iwan Wynnyk - in discharging its duties as stipulated in the UNA By-Laws, during the period of Saturday, May 3, through Wednesday, May 7, conducted a review of the UNA's financial operations, organizing status, publishing house, Soyuzivka resort and the Ukrainian National Urban Renewal Corp.

As a result of its review, the Auditing Committee affirms the following:

The Ukrainian National Association, having entered the 103rd year of its existence, continued the longtime tradition of devoted service to its members and the Ukrainian community in the United States and Canada, as well as Ukraine.

1. Financial Department

During 1996, the UNA's financial state was characterized by the following changes:

In order to fulfill the requirements of the insurance regulatory authorities of the state of New Jersey, which in accordance with existing statutes did not want to recognize the full mortgage loan on the UNA headquarters building, the UNA was forced to decrease its loan, which as of the end of 1996 stood at $14,520,539.79, by the sum of accumulated deficits ($7,357,487.98) to $7,163,051.81; another $560,034 was deducted from the surplus. After the building is sold, this sum will be returned to the surplus, as will the sum deducted from the loan.

The general report for 1996 showed that the UNA had a profit of $521,302 from its insurance business, and a profit of $209,297.04 from various other sources. To cover the difference in the exchange rate on the Canadian dollar, a total of $117,902 was transferred to a special reserve fund; disbursements for the UNA building totaled $1,142,923; to subsidy to Soyuzivka was $554,471.36; and the subsidy for UNA publications, Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, were $498,521. During the report period 203 students received scholarships totaling $65,000.

Our reserve as of the end of the year totaled $6,530,660.

2. Organizing Department.

The Organizing Department is one of the most important units of the UNA because new members are the guarantee of the institution's growth. It was confirmed that during the 12-month period covered by this report 859 new members were enrolled.

When one adds to that figure the 1,627 members who took advantage of the additional insurance program offer proposed to those who had paid up P-20 and P-65 policies, this totals 2,486 certificates - but not new members. This drive succeeded in increasing the number of active members; thus, the number of convention delegates will be higher, thus increasing the costs of our convention in 1998.

Speaking of new members, during the report period our professional salespersons in the United States enrolled 148 new members insured for $6,235,000, while Canadian salespersons, under the supervision of Bob Cook, enrolled 130 new members insured for $8,073,000.

Regardless of the fact that our campaign to enroll new members fell short of expectations, we cannot neglect to mention UNA branch secretaries who enrolled new members during the report period and thus contributed a significant "brick" to the UNA structure. They and other branch officers are the foundation of the UNA; in keeping with their abilities they will continue to serve as such.

3. Recording Department

The Recording Department, directed by Secretary Martha Lysko, has traditionally been in constant contact with our branch secretaries who need professional assistance, especially now when courses/seminars for secretaries are no longer held.

During the report period Mrs. Lysko devoted much time and effort to the additional insurance program. Much time was devoted also to the mergers of smaller inactive branches, especially in cases when a branch found itself without a secretary.

It should be noted that the Recording Department maintains the roster of UNA members, including gains as well as losses. And, in accordance with these statistics, during the report period the UNA lost 2,043 members. This can be seen in the membership statistics: as of December 31, 1995, the UNA had 61,126 members; as of December 31, 1996, that number was 59,063.

The preparation of annual membership statistics prepared by the Recording Department and their publication on the pages of Svoboda is to be commended; our members should be informed about the state of the UNA in all aspects of its activity.

4. UNA Publications

The Svoboda daily and The Ukrainian Weekly serve a vital informational role, maintaining contact among our settlements in various countries and, for the sixth year now, with independent Ukraine as well. Our entire diaspora is concerned about the fate of Ukraine and awaits the latest news about events in Ukraine. Readers find this on the pages of our UNA press. That is why we must do everything possible to find an appropriate way to maintain our daily with daily postal delivery.

It is true that, despite the increase in the subscription fees for Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, during the report period the UNA had to cover the $489,521 deficit of the publishing house. And the reason for this was a marked decline in the number of subscribers. Perhaps the subscription fee increase itself was responsible for the decline in subscribers. We must find a way to remedy the situation because the decline is serious, as is seen in the following figures.

Loss of subscribers:

1996

1995

1994

Total

Svoboda
1,403

12,157

522

3,082

Weekly
1,138

1,051

387

2,576

Together
2,541

2,208

909

5,658

When we write of the search for a solution to this very important matter of maintaining Svoboda as a daily, we should note that this can happen if we find a way to reach the new immigrants from Ukraine, more than 100,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States and most of whom have jobs. The immigration of the 1950s will not save the daily.

It is difficult to understand the significant loss in subscribers to The Weekly, which should be read in each and every Ukrainian family. Speaking of the loss of Weekly readers we must ask: where are our scholarship winners? Each year they receive non-refundable scholarships. The UNA began allocating such scholarships in 1964 and since that time has paid out $1,548,900 to approximately 4,000 students. During the report period the UNA paid out $65,000 to 203 students.

5. Soyuzivka

For years Soyuzivka has been and continues to be the pride of the UNA. Regardless of financial limitations, the resort continues to function as a Ukrainian cultural center where our best choral and dance ensembles from the U.S., Canada and independent Ukraine have an opportunity to perform.

Soyuzivka is popular as a site for conferences of various community organizations, regional reunions and weddings. It has become tradition that tennis camps, Ukrainian dance workshops and camps for preschoolers (Plast's "Tabir Ptashat") are held at the resort. Each year, the UNA covers the costs of two-week pedagogical courses for teachers of schools of Ukrainian studies in the U.S. and Canada held under the aegis of the Educational Council of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.

It was stated at the outset that there are financial limitations to running the resort and that is why we provide the following figures: income in the last year was $1,133,142, while expenses were $1,687,613; thus, there was a deficit of $554,471.

Various public events, camps and the like are held during the summer season, while during other times of the year there is no business and the result is a deficit. In order to decrease the deficit, the Auditing Committee recommends to the Soyuzivka management that it advertise the resort in the local press and radio, which may result in rental of the resort's facilities for all types of gatherings, meetings, etc.

Here we should state frankly that the future of Soyuzivka could be threatened if the management finds that it is unable to function with UNA subsidies. At this same time, dozens of resort businesses that do not have financial aid and the support of a patriotic community of thousands are able to pay all their expenses while making a profit and guaranteeing their existence.

The manager of Soyuzivka is John A. Flis, who is making efforts to improve the resort's financial management.

6. The UNA headquarters building

In writing about the financial state of the UNA, it was stated, on the basis of reports by Treasurer Alexander Blahitka, that the UNA's reserve has suffered as a result of the UNA headquarters building. The proof of this may be seen in the fact that during the report period the building had income of $3,382,157.45, while expenses were $4,525,080.64, which means there was a deficit of $1,142,923.19. The deficit for the same report period in 1995 totaled $451,233.89.

In its report for 1995 the Auditing Committee clearly informed the public that the UNA General Assembly had spent much time during its annual meeting discussing the fate of the building and that a majority had voted to sell the building. Therefore, the UNA Executive Committee, acting on the decision of the General Assembly, announced that the building was for sale.

As we write this statement, the sale is already a fait accompli: the building has been sold for $21.2 million. Here it should be noted that members of the Executive Committee did not act alone in accepting a bid on the building, because a special advisory committee composed of members of the General Assembly was created specifically to assist them and to act as a check on their activity. Thus, offers to buy the UNA building as well as matters relating to the purchase of a new UNA headquarters facility were acted on by both the Executive Committee and the special committee. Speaking of the new UNA headquarters, a 10-year-old two-story building located on Route 10 in Parsippany, N.J., (Morris County) was purchased for $4,931,250. Here we should point out that located on this same road in neighboring Whippany are a Ukrainian Catholic Church as well as an active local Ukrainian community.

7. The Auditing Committee's detailed reports about the UNA's financial management and other aspects of its work will be presented to members of the UNA General Assembly during their annual meeting in November of this year.

8. The Auditing Committee fully supports concrete efforts toward the mergers of three fraternal organizations: the Ukrainian Fraternal Association and the Ukrainian National Aid Association of America with the Ukrainian National Association.

We are witnesses to the mergers of large American financial institutions, which are taking place to ensure economic progress. If a merger of our three fraternal organizations does take place we will not need three presidents, three secretaries, three treasurers, actuaries for each fraternal, dozens of workers at three separate home offices; there will not be taxes, insurance and other costly expenditures for three separate organizations. Furthermore, as statistics demonstrate, none of these fraternals can boast of many new members, which are the guarantee of the further existence of our fraternal associations.

9. In conjunction with our report about UNA publications, the Auditing Committee calls on, not only members of the Ukrainian National Association, but on the entire patriotic Ukrainian community to become subscribers of Svoboda. Can one believe that during the report period only 8,177 persons subscribed to Svoboda when there are hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians in North America, not to mention other countries where there are Ukrainian communities? Here one must ask: what Ukrainian-language press does our community read if Svoboda is the only daily newspaper? And in order for this paper to remain a daily we cannot allow it to lose 1,403 subscribers in one year.

10. The Auditing Committee also appeals to the younger generations, to young families, to professionals and former UNA scholarship winners (and there are over 4,000 of them) to become subscribers of The Ukrainian Weekly, which is printed in a language that is accessible to them. Again we ask: how can it be that only 7,550 young patriots subscribe to this newspaper which contains the most interesting news on all aspects of our life here in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Ukraine? The Ukrainian Weekly is considered to be the best English-language ethnic newspaper in North America. Can we allow it to lose 1,138 subscribers in one year?

It is easier to understand that Svoboda loses subscribers because it is true that much of this is due to the fact that subscribers are older, have vision problems that prevent them from reading, or pass away; but the numbers of the younger generation increase each year and that is why The Weekly should have at least 15,000 subscribers. Thus, we appeal to all of you, especially parents: for the price of $1 per week you can put your children and grandchildren in touch with Ukrainian life in the U.S. and Canada, and also with Ukraine. Let this be a gift to them for their birthdays or for other occasions. Please do this as soon as possible.

11. The Auditing Committee calls upon district and branch officers to help the Organizing Department enroll 1,250 new members to fulfill the annual quota.

At the same time, the Auditing Committee reminds UNA'ers that this is a pre-convention year. That is why it is important to enroll new members right now, so that branches could send one, two or three delegates to the convention. Do not wait until December, because then it will be too late. We also recall the UNA tradition that every convention delegate should bring applications of new members to the convention, especially those who plan to run for positions on the General Assembly. So, now is the time to organize new members.

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Loss of subscribers:
	1996	1995	1994	Total
Svoboda	1,403	12,157	522	3,082
Weekly	1,138	1,051	387	2,576
Together	2,541	2,208	909	5,658