Meeting:2023 AGM/Treasurer's Report

Financial statements

The attached financial statements will be submitted to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission as part of our annual information statement.

Assets

The association held assets of $473,116.45 at 30 June 2023.

$466,479.06 in the cheque account
$5,044.78 in the debit card account
$1,592.61 in the PayPal account

Income

WMAU received a total of $629,288.63 revenue in the 2022-23 financial year, made up of operational income and grant income. Operational income included:

Membership fees: $615.68
Donations: $13,084.20
Facilitation of events: $4,772.74 (raised when an external organisation pays for our staff or volunteers to present programs that fall outside our core programs).
Other income (reimbursements): $593.01 (in this case reimbursements for cancelled flights, and a disputed bank transaction).

Grants

We received two significant grants from the Wikimedia Foundation:

General Support Fund 2022-23: $291,600 was received in June 2022 as the first year of General Support Funds to fund our three year strategic plan..
ESEAP Conference Grant 2022: $260,875 to coordinate the ESEAP Regional Conference held in November 2022.

Expenditure

Most of Wikimedia Australia’s work and expenditure in 2022-23 centred on our two WMF grants, plus an Australia Council for the Arts grant extension for Year 2 of The Record project. Particular thanks to James Gaunt for diligently delivering the requirements of The Record project grant.

After two years of limited in-person meetings we have started making up for the time apart with significant funds going towards travel to the ESEAP Conference, Committee Strategy weekend, and for a strong contingent of Australians at Wikimania in Singapore next week.

The ESEAP Conference was very successful on all levels. Separate financial reporting for the conference grant is available on meta.

Mounting the conference with very little advance notice did however take almost 6 months out of our planned program delivery. By pivoting to a partnership model with four organisations we have succeeded in expending all but $12,000 of our 2022-23 grant, and this will be carried over for use in staffing and administrative support for the next 6 months.

Operations

The only way we can deliver the programs we do is because of our amazing staff team, and this year was another ‘first’ as WMAU became an employer. This is a major step, and involves increased responsibility as a Board. We would like to thank Belinda, James, and previously Caddie, for their expertise and patience as we established HR processes and documentation through the year. We acknowledge that we have been served well by KeyAdmin for accounting support and management or payroll and associated taxation processes.

In addition to expenses against the grants there are ongoing operational costs in keeping the association well-managed, including bank fees, software and subscriptions, insurance, and communications.

Concluding remarks

As I conclude my third term as Treasurer, and reflect on my last 10 years on the WMAU Committee, there are many people to thank. Personal thanks to Steve Crossin, Gideon Digby, Alex Lum and Amanda Lawrence for their leadership over this time, and to all the Committee members I have had the pleasure of serving alongside.

Thank you particularly to Belinda and James for achieving so much this year. I wish the new Board all the best for the ambitious program ahead.