By Andrew Schlatter, AIA

How can you distill a full year’s worth of work, events, activities, meetings, conversations, and ideas into a single page?  You probably can’t. But this past year, the AIAVT Board decided to give it a try, hoping to provide our members with at least a brief glimpse into the life of the organization over this past year.  We also didn’t want to waste too much paper. The result was our “One Page Annual Report”-- a single page (OK, admittedly two sided) that was shared with members at the AIAVT Annual Meeting and Design Awards at UVM Alumni House on December 7th, 2019.  

See the full AIAVT 2019 Annual Report.

In case you missed it, we are providing it here again, along with a brief explanation of the contents.  The “front” of the report compiles a variety of high-level “metrics” that aim to tell the story of AIAVT’s year through numbers and simple graphs.  These include:

• Who We Are: The number of current AIAVT members, broken down into individual member categories, described in pie chart form.  While the majority of our membership (62%, or 218 out of 356) are active architects, it’s also important to recognize that over ? of our organization is comprised of associate, allied, and emeritus members who also make a vital contribution to the organization.  

• What We Did: This section includes two pie charts and a collection of vignettes that give a “by the numbers” view of the organization’s budgeting and activities in 2019. 
  • 2019 Annual Budget Pie Charts: These graphs are based on a simplified version of AIAVT’s 2019 Budget, which was passed by the board at the start of the year.  Ideally, these two pie charts-- Sources and Uses-- represent exactly the same amount of money, such that at the end of the fiscal year, our projected budget proves to be balanced.  This means we’ve raised enough money to support our activities and spent what we made to the benefit of our membership. A few additional notes:    
    • While we were not able to provide final year-end analysis at the time of the Annual Meeting in December (because of the fact that the year was still underway), we have now completed our year-end budget review and are pleased to report that our income slightly exceeded our expenses this year, putting AIAVT in a strong position at the start of 2020.  
    • The largest “use” category in AIAVT’s budget is described in the chart as Administrative and Overhead costs.  These are the aggregated base costs of supporting our organization each year, including staffing (our Executive Director in particular), office space and supplies, travel expenses, maintenance of the AIAVT website, insurance, taxes, and legal costs. We endeavor to keep these costs to the minimum amount feasible and spend the remainder of our budget on programs that engage and benefit our membership.
    • As evident in the “Sources” chart, our organization is supported primarily by member dues, sponsorships, and other fundraising efforts and events.  An active and engaged membership is key to our success in all of these areas, and we are fortunate to have such a committed group of architects, vendors, and other building professionals keeping AIAVT strong. We welcome ideas from all our members about future events, sponsorships, and ways to bolster our membership.  

• What We Did, By the Numbers: The boxes at the bottom of the page take a look at AIAVT’s activities and engagements through a quantitative lens. Nearly Four hundred and forty-nine event participants, twenty-nine and a half AIA learning units offered, and nearly 16,000 website visitors are just a few of the facts that tell the story of what AIAVT and its members have shared and accomplished over the last year.  

The “B side” of our Annual Report is comprised of brief remarks from AIAVT’s leaders at the threshold of the annual presidential transition, featuring notes from outgoing 2019 President Joel Page on the Year in Review, and from incoming 2020 President John Dale on The Year Ahead.  These notes now seem especially bittersweet; as we note with deep sadness the unexpected passing of John Dale in early January. His remarks will stand as a record of his thoughtfulness, optimism, and commitment to AIAVT and to architecture as a profession. John will be greatly missed-- but not forgotten-- as we carry this vision forward in his absence.  

Thank you to everyone who contributed their time, energy and ideas to AIAVT’s efforts in 2019; we look forward to what 2020 will bring.