[Genealib] Re: NYG&BS

[Leslie Corn]

I would like to add some comments to Roger¹s. I fully agree with what he has
written. Based on the flurry of emails in response to his, there are many
others who do, too.
 
I, also, have voted against giving all power over the G&B to a board of
fifteen and disenfranchising myself and all other members. I want what¹s
best for the G&B and don¹t feel that the board has recommended a good way to
approach the organization¹s future.
 
I have been an active member of the NYGBS and, over the years, have served
on various committees. Sadly, I have also seen the increased insularity of
the board and its apparent lack of planning for the future. Its name-calling
and finger-pointing are certainly not part of a proactive and wise
leadership and not one I wish to entrust, blindly, with the G&B¹s governance
and future.
 
I have witnessed leadership¹s intolerance with and ignoring of suggestions
from members and others well qualified to advise. The board currently
doesn¹t include even one trustee who has a day-to-day, in-the-field working
knowledge of genealogy. How can this group determine, on its own, the best
way for the NYGBS to meet the future of the changing world of genealogy?
 
Do board members even know their own library? Certainly not all of them,
based on the chairman¹s incorrect statement in the last New York Researcher
that, ³Most of our Library is now duplicated online and elsewhere for free.²
This is patently untrue, as is well known by those familiar with the
library¹s collection.
 
What company can survive without its leadership having knowledge of its
product?
 
I fear that the board¹s attempt to eliminate members from having a say will
only lead the board into increased insularity, to the detriment of the G&B.
I most sincerely hope I am wrong, but can we afford the risk of an
under-informed, isolated, ³because-I-say-so² leadership?
 
Over the last few years, the Society¹s endowment has shrunk from about
$5,000,000 to what is now probably in the low six figures. (The 2006
financials have not been posted to the website, as I gather they should have
been.) Though I do not know from my own experience, I have been told that
this loss was primarily due to poor investments and lack of oversight of
those investments‹oversight that was and is a primary fiduciary
responsibility of the board.
 
In the chairman¹s June 22, 2007, letter to the membership, he stated, in
asking for members¹ votes in favor of disenfranchisement: ³This change is
similar to the one made at the New England Historic Genealogical Society
years ago, and all the members, staff, and trustees we¹ve heard from have
heartily recommended such governance reform to the G&B.²
 
Both parts of that sentence give pause. Many of us are against ³such
governance reform.² This is known by the leadership.
 
Also, as I understand NEHGS¹s governance, there is, in addition to the
board, a Council of the Corporation responsible for oversight of the board.
What the trustees of the G&B are proposing is to take authority away from
everyone but their self-appointed group of fifteen. Where is the oversight?
 
If lack of oversight led us into this crisis, how can the leaders be trusted
not to take the $24,000,000 from the sale of the building and make the same
mistakes again? What reasons have they given us to trust their judgment and
leave them without the oversight and contributions that enfranchised members
would bring? What proof have they given us over the last few years that they
have any viable plans for the survival of the G&B, beyond broad,
unsubstantiated statements? Why should we entrust complete control to
leadership that doesn¹t even know its organization¹s holdings?
 
I, like other members, would like to see the board, as the chairman wrote,
³act nimbly and grasp its future opportunities.² I wish, with all my heart,
that the G&B can get back on course and thrive. So far, I¹ve seen little
evidence of this board¹s ability to lead. Without members¹ help to guide the
way, I fear for the very survival of the NYGBS, its library and collection.
 
Please, as Roger mentioned, carefully review the proposed changes to the
by-laws, before you vote, or take a look, if you have already voted without
reading them. The proposed changes are available to members at
http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/download/pdf/bylaw_redline_707_amd_July_
version.pdf 
<http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/download/pdf/bylaw_redline_707_amd_July
_version.pdf> 
 
As Roger explained, if you¹ve already voted ³yes² and mailed your proxy, but
feel it¹s the right choice to change that vote to a ³no,² it¹s not too late
to do so.
 
Leslie Corn, CG, FGBS

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