Robert (the Bob) Bulman— President

Inside this issue:

Fred Jex —

1st Vice President 2

John Hudson—

2nd Vice President 3

Nick Baldi —

3rd Vice President 4

AJ Bovio —

4thVice President 5

Ralph Calhoun II—

Secretary-Treasurer 6

Matt Noell

Dir. Temple Accounting 7

Jim McConnell

Imperial Treasurer 8

Jack Jones

Past Imp Potentate

Imperial Recorder

Exec. VP/COO

9

2015 STA Mid-Winter

Accommodations 10

Extra Actives March

2015 11

A Publication of The Shrine Treasurers Association

November 2014 Volume 17, Issue 2

STA Ledger

Special Dates to Remember

Membership Dues for

2015 are due

January 1, 2015 Future

STA Mid Winter Meetings

Tampa FL

March 27-30, 2015

My fellow Treasurers, it's that time

of the year when most of us are

working with the Chief Rabbans on

his budget for next year. Remember

as CFO you are an integral part of

the input. Also make sure there is

an item for the Treasurers Seminar

March 28-30, 2015. This is a very

important part of your position as

you are the CFO of your Shrine. The

seminar is informative and is a great

way to network with the other Treas-

urers. Our Secretary/Treasurer

Ralph Calhoun, 1st Vice President

Dr. Fred Jex, and myself have been

preparing the agenda and activities

for our March meeting. The informa-

tion you gather from our speakers

will benefit each of you and your

Shrine and it will help you in the dis-

charge of your duties. Remember if

there is something you would like to

have at the seminar please feel free

to contact myself or Ralph.

Now is the time to consider if you

are interested in serving this organi-

zation to send your resume to

Ralph.

As the end of the year approaches there are a lot of items that need to be taken care of between now and December 31, so remember if you have any questions please contact any of the Officers of STA

or the office of Temple Accounting

Mat t Noe l l ( 813 -281-0300)

mnoell@shrinenet.org We will do

our best to get the answers you

need.

As your President I would like to

wish you all a very happy, success-

ful and safe HOLIDAY SEASON

from your STA Officers.

And as a personal note:

Lady Jane and I wish you:

A Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year

See you in Tampa in March 2015

Yours in the Faith. Robert the Bob

CHECK OUT OUR 2015 TAMPA FL. HOTEL FACT SHEET PAGE 10

& STUFF TO DO ON PAGE 11

“It’s Budget Time”

BATS Manual is now called

the ‘Temple Financial

Manual’

Available through our Web

Page under the “LINKS”

Tab

‘TEMPLE FINANCIAL MANUAL’

Page 2

STA Ledger

Dr. Fred Jex —1st Vice President

Greeting fellow Treasurers:

It is Budget time for our Chief Rabbans and BOD; make sure there is a line item in their budget for you and your Lady to attend our winter meetings in Tampa, March 28 – 30, 2015. Kathy and I are looking forward to see-ing all of you in Tampa.

For those of you that this is the first time pre-

paring a temple budget, the following copy of

the requirements for the annual budget are in

the BATS manual:

“Shriners International Bylaw Budget Process

Section 327.8(e) and related Sections of the Shriners International Bylaws created

a uniform, comprehensive and all inclusive system to manage all of the assets, liabilities

and net assets of Temples through the budget process. The Chief Rabban, in con-junction

with the board of directors (Section 327.2(a) and 327.8(e) of the Shriners International

Bylaws), is charged with the responsibility of preparing for presentation to the Nobility for

their consideration an operating budget and other budgets which disclose all income of

the Temple from whatever source and all expenses of the Temple for whatever pur-pose.

The recommended budget report to the No-bility is the Operating Budget and

Comparison Report (See Temple Financial Manual Section 1, page 1a). Shriners

International Bylaw Section 334.7(2) states: “A statement of activities for the previous

year showing in parallel columns the budget items and the actual expenditures related

thereto”.

Once the budgets have been approved by the membership, any changes in line

items must be presented to and approved by the membership at a regular meeting or

special meeting called for the purpose of amending the budgets. When amended

budgets have been approved, a copy signed by all members of the board of directors

shall be mailed to the Director of Temple Ac-counting in Tampa within 30 days of its

adoption.

Other financial officers as provided for in Section 327.5 of the Shriners

International Bylaws may be utilized by a Temple. However, with the adoption of Sec-tion

327.8(e) of the Shriners International Bylaws, the duties and responsibilities of such

financial officers are limited to nothing more than advising the board of directors.”

How I interpret this passage is as follows:

Paragraph #1

You are required to follow the format given on Shriners International form “Annual Budget Comparison Report Form”. The entire BoD is responsible for the annual Temple operating budget NOT just one member of the board.

Paragraph #2

The budget must be presented to and ap-proved by Temple Nobles in attendance at a regular Temple meeting and signed by ALL the members of the Temple BOD. Any amendment to the annual budget must be presented to the Temple membership and approved by them and sent to Director of Temple Accounting within 30 days.

Paragraph #3

Addition Financial Committees and Officers can be used BUT their duties and responsi-bilities are limited to advising the BOD ONLY

Your officers are here to serve you, please do

not hesitate to contact any of us.

Dr. Fred

Fellow Treasurers,

I hope all of you had a great

summer. As we begin the fourth

quarter of the year, we should

all be beginning to think about

next years budgets.

I like to let my Chief Rabban try

to prepare a balanced budget

without overly inflating income

or reducing expenses on his

own so he can see how little

wiggle room we have before we

run at a deficit so he will know

how important it is for him to

manage expenses and hit the

income goals so we can stay

within budget.

After he has prepared his

budget, we will sit down and go

over the numbers to make sure

none of the numbers are exag-

gerated.

I always recommend that he

slightly inflate expenses and

slightly lower income so he will

have a better chance of hitting

his budget.

As Treasurers, we should Man-

age their expectations.

I would encourage all of you to

try to work a line item into the

budget for your shrine to pay

for you to attend the March

meeting in Tampa which will be

from March 27-30, 2015.

As Treasurers, we have one of

the most important jobs at our

Shrines which requires contin-

ued training which you will re-

ceive at our midwinter meeting.

If you are on a calendar year

accounting period, the last day

with extensions to file your 990

tax form is November 15th.

I look forward to seeing all of

you at the March meeting.

Yours in the Faith,

John "Show me the Money"

Hudson P.P.

“prepare a balanced

budget without overly

inflating income or

reducing expenses”

Page 3

STA Ledger

“attend the March meeting in

Tampa … March 27-30,2015”

John Hudson — 2nd Vice President

“We can’t spend it

if we don’t have it!”

Page 4

STA Ledger

WOW its October, where has the year

gone!

ARARAT is just completing our 9 + 3

P&L review of our performance to the

2014 Budget. This review when com-

pleted will be presented to the Divan in

the November meeting. This informa-

tion will also take us into the discus-

sion for the 2015 Budget.

I bring this up at the start of my news-

letter because I feel this is such an

important part of what our responsibili-

ties are as CFO’s. We must use all the

information that is in available to us

through our software to inform and

educate our Divan.

We can’t spend it if we don’t have it!

I had the opportunity to attend the Ma-

sonic cornerstone ceremony for the

new St. Louis hospital, what a great

experience for me personally, this is

what it’s all about, and I need to re-

mind myself of that periodically.

We have had a very good year so far

and have had some breathing room

from a financial point of view. However

our membership continues to be a

struggle.

We have had 3 great ceremonials this

year with what I consider a young

group (young to me is now under 60,

ha!). It is great to see and be a part of

the energy of the new class Nobles

and their Ladies, We must find ways to

keep them involved and bring in their

friends.

Please plan on attending the March

meeting in Tampa and bring your

Lady!

Fraternally Yours

Nick Baldi

Nick Baldi — 3rd Vice President

“As always I am sure I will be

overwhelmed by the old and new

information ”

Page 5

STA Ledger

Anthony (AJ) Bovio — 4th Vice President

Fall is here and my favorite time of the

year Holiday time. We are very busy at

our Shrine Center and have had a great

year so far.

On a very sad note one of the hospital

vans was returning from Tampa Hospital

with a patient and their mother and

someone crashed into the back of the

van and killed one of our drivers. Our

Shrine Center has been very saddened

by his death and have all been praying

for his family.

I am really looking forward to our March

seminar and seeing everyone again and

getting up to speed on my duties as a

STA officer.

As always I am sure I will be over-

whelmed by the old and new information

provided at our March Seminar and eve-

ryone should make it a priority to attend

the seminar because your input is one of

the things that makes it so successful.

When you all see me I should be a

hippy guy because I am going to have

both my hips replaced in January and

hopefully will be up and running in

March.

Please don’t hesitate to provide your

ideas and comments to me and the

other officers because that is the only

way we can make things better is by

your input and help.

I wish everyone a safe and wonderful

Holiday season and may God Bless you

throughout the year.

Anthony (AJ) Bovio

“maneuver through our website

(www.shrinetreasurers.org).

Page 6

STA Ledger

Ralph Calhoun II — Secretary-Treasurer

To all Nobles who missed our recent Imperial Shrine Session in Minneapolis you missed a great time by all who at-tended. It was informative and we re-ceived good information from legal counsel and what was on the call. We would like to congratulate Imperial Sir Dale Stauss, Kem Shriners, on his recent election as Imperial Potentate. Also, congratulations to the newest member Imperial Sir Kenny Craven, Omar Shriners, on his recent election as Imperial Outer Guard. We also heard at our annual meeting from you the Treasurers of things that you would like to hear about at our mid-winter meeting. We will do our best to provide the necessary training to an-swer your questions and concerns. However, having said that if any of you have ideas that would be of interest to the Treasurers Association please let the officers of the association or myself (Ralph Calhoun- Sec/Treas.) know. I would like to remind everyone of our upcoming mid-winter meeting being held in Tampa, FL, March 27 – 30, 2015 at the Holiday Inn Hotel. We are asking you to talk to your Chief Rabban’s and ask them to place our seminar in the budget so that you may attend. You will

receive valuable information as to IRS and Imperial Law requirements that gov-ern your temple in reference to Non-profit organizations. It is beneficial for new and seasoned treasurers to stay current as the laws change each year. We would also like to remind you that a few years ago we voted to discontinue the newsletter mailings because of the cost factor. We now do it electronically. We send them to you via email and it is important for you to provide us with your current email address. There is a lot valuable information that we provide in the newsletter. The newsletter and other valuable information can be obtained at our webpage at

www.shrinetreasurers.org. If you do not have an email address then we ask you to provide a current email address of someone in your tem-ple administration, then they will be able to download a copy of the newsletter to give to you. We also ask each of you to check to verify if your temple dues to the Shrine Treasurers Association (2014) are paid. It will soon be time for us to send out the 2015 dues notices. They will be mailed out in November of this year. We will also try to provide you a copy of the reg-istration form in the mailing for the up-coming 2015 mid-winter seminar. Those who have not paid their 2014 associa-tion dues will be dropped from our mail-ings and our webpage. We will no longer list your temple or your treasurer on our webpage. This seminar not only provides valuable information but provides fun and fellow-ship with your counterparts throughout Shrinedom. It is the only Association that you get the biggest bang for your dollar. Remember, to visit our webpage

(www.shrinetreasurers.org) for any and all information. We look for-ward to hearing and seeing you in Tampa 2015.

Ralph Calhoun II

Page 7

August 2014

I’m looking forward to meeting with the

Shrine treasurers at the 2015 STA Mid-

Winter Seminar in Tampa, March 27-30,

2015. All treasurers are invited to at-

tend the Treasurer Orientation on Satur-

day March 27 from 9:00am to noon.

The orientation will cover most Temple

Financial Manual sections as well as

provide information and updates on

other current and relevant topics.

I’d like to take this opportunity to share

the following important information.

The Temple Financial Manual is up-

dated as of October 2014 and published

online for your use at

www.shrinersvillage.com

and

www.shrinersinternational.org.

By now, most temple CPAs have com-

pleted the 2013 financial statements

and 2013 IRS Forms 990. If your tem-

ple has not yet filed with the IRS, the

last extension possible for 2013 Forms

990 would have a filing deadline of No-

vember 15, 2014. A listing that includes

every one of the Shrine clubs under

your temple is required to be included

with the Group 990. A failure to file

properly for three consecutive years can

lead to the revocation of exempt status.

Please make sure that a copy of your

temple financial statements and Forms

990 are sent to my office. It is a re-

quirement of your temple under Shrine

law.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable holi-

day season.

Fraternally,

Have you been to Shriners Village web page lately?

Take a look at the Membership Tab.

SHRINERS INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS × 2900 ROCKY POINT DR., TAMPA, FLORIDA 33607 × www.shrinershq.org

November 2014

Dear Shrine Treasurers:

One of the most exciting things going on at Shriners International Headquarters is the WebFez Shrine Membership Program. Noble Steve

Gainey, Director of Temple Computer Support, and his team have done an outstanding job moving this program along.

The first half of 2014 was spent primarily re-architecting the existing computing infrastructure at our web services provider location to improve

security, reliability and performance; developing the foundation of the program and preparing a ‘basic features’ version for testing and early dis-

tribution to our newest Shrine Temple in Brazil, Hikmat Shriners.

Three separate environments are being established: WebFezTest, WebFezTrain and WebFez.

WebFezTest – will be used to allow our WebFez User Feedback Group the ability to poke and prod at our latest releases to ensure reliability and

offer feedback. It was released in early September 2014. User access will be limited to each temple’s respective data and will be ‘real’, but not

‘live’. In other words, Users will be able to manipulate their membership, but actual changes will not apply to the real database. Additions, modi-

fications and deletions will be allowed to best provide a true feel, but not affect the actual data.

WebFezTrain – after a Release has been tested, it will be moved to this domain to give all Shrine offices the opportunity to ‘play’ with it and

become more familiar. This will also serve as the location for more formalized training. The sooner your staff becomes proficient with the new

program, the easier the transition will be. Keep in mind that WebFez will be evolving and growing for quite some time as we add bells and whis-

tles that have been requested.

WebFez – this is our ‘Production’ environment. Initially, only Hikmat will have access here. The decision was made to initiate Hikmat into a

‘basic features’ version of WebFez rather than train in Red Fez and re-train in WebFez months later. With a target date of 1st Quarter 2015, a

deployment plan will be communicated to all temples. When the time comes, each temple’s database will be transmitted to and integrated with

the WebFez database and the local database will be locked so that duplicate entries will not occur.

We urge you to begin cleaning up your database ASAP per the guidelines distributed at this year’s Imperial Session, so that your transition

will go as smoothly as possible.

Noble Gainey and his team have made tremendous progress in the last four months working under a very aggressive deadline, but there is much

still to do! We believe we have an excellent product in the works driven and influenced by temple requests and recommendations that will con-

tinue to expand and improve even after initial release.

Should you have any questions about the program, please contact Noble Gainey at 813.281.0300 or sgainey@shrinenet.org.

Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of our great fraternity. I am pleased and proud to work with each of you, and to share our special bond of

brotherhood.

Yours in the faith,

Jack H. Jones, PIP

Imperial Recorder

Executive Vice President

Shriners International

OFFICE OF

JACK H. JONES

PAST IMPERIAL POTENTATE

IMPERIAL RECORDER

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/COO

MEMBER

EGYPT SHRINERS

TAMPA, FLORIDA

Page 10

Page 11

Here is a guide to some of Tampa’s Restaurants and Night Life

http://www.visittampabay.com/publications/guides/dining-and-nightlife.html

Looking for something to do while in Tampa?

Or how about going to Tampa early and taking a Cruise?

Here is one that might just work for you.

So make your reservations early and we will

see you in Tampa! STA and it’s officers are providing this information to you for consideration only and are not endorsing any of the information provided.