Bruce, I see you "borrowed" your retort from Patrick's misleading "directors" report on his personal website. I would think someone as learned as you would at least provide the proper citation. <AMSAT presidents in their annual reports at AMSATs own meetings have been really grim about AMSAT's finances> You are confusing projected budgetary deficits, with actual financial performance. This is a common mistake for individuals without business and nonprofit backgrounds, and why I devoted my time in time in the May/June 2020 issue of The AMSAT Journal to fully explain this. <I also hear that around the start of April, you reported "Without cash flows, we (AMSAT) can't afford to pay our bills."> Patrick purposefully took this quote out of context, when he secretly recorded the AMSAT Board of Directors meeting. If Patrick would have shared the entire conversation, your would know that we were discussing the economic uncertainty at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. No one knew at that point what effect the coronavirus would have on our economy and still do not fully know today. So, yes, I was concerned about cash flows and having access to our accounts, just as every for profit and nonprofit business in the World was. I would have been derelict in my duties as AMSAT Treasurer to not advise our Board of Directors of this threat and recommend a course of action. To say otherwise is disingenuous. I am happy to share that through our preemptive actions and the hard work of our Officers and volunteers, we have weathered the storm. Our biggest concern was with the cancellation of Hamvention, where a large part of our membership stop by the booth, catch up with everything going on, and pay their annual dues. Luckily, with the May 1st launch of our new Member Portal, AMSAT achieved a record amount of monthly membership revenues in May. Robert Bankston, KE4AL Treasurer Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT)
On Tuesday, July 14, 2020, 09:38:13 PM CDT, Bruce Perens bruce@perens.com wrote:
Robert,
On Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 4:58 PM Robert Bankston via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
I know you only show up at election time
Snark if you want, but I am working on Amateur Space quite often. My latest was the pocketqube ion thruster project, see http://perens.com/static/AppliedIon/ where my work successfully raised the necessary funds and got the project on its feet again.
AMSAT is on a solid financial footing and headed in the right direction.
Well, that is wonderful. But you must understand where my trepidation about AMSAT's finances comes from, since AMSAT presidents in their annual reports at AMSATs own meetings have been really grim about AMSAT's finances.
I also hear that around the start of April, you reported "Without cash flows, we (AMSAT) can't afford to pay our bills." At which point AMSAT applied for the government salary protection program. That is after the report you just cited, isn't it? We are all suffering from COVID-19 related austerity, and we can expect AMSAT to lose funds that it would have received around conferences, etc., so best wishes with that.
Thanks
Bruce