Journal of the Australian Native Plants Society Canberra region (Inc)
2023 Annual Report (#)
By Stephen Saunders, President
Sept 2023
By Stephen Saunders, President
ANPSC is one of 8 state-territory affiliates of ANPSA. We are a small non-profit organisation run by volunteers, earning and spending roughly $30,000 annually. The Society’s key purposes are improving the horticulture of Australian native plants, plus preserving these plants and their habitats. Our governing Council has had 9 members through 2023, as against a possible maximum of 11. The Society had a small operating surplus for 2022–23. Membership numbers are reasonably stable. We held two successful Plant Sales, and ran a full program of Members’ Meetings, Wednesday Walks and Field Trips.
Affiliations and Governance
• ANPSC’s next Annual Return was to be submitted after the November 2023 AGM.
• We held all Member Meetings for 2023, and all Council Meetings bar one.
• Through 2023, it remained difficult to fill key volunteer slots, both on and off Council. At AGM, the President and just 6 others were returned to Council.
Finances
• Responding to an early 2023 cybertheft, the Society managed to get all Australian Native Plants Society Canberra (ANPSC) 2023 Annual Report (#) funds restored, and correspondingly tightened its Financial Arrangements and Delegations.
• The Society found a new (more economical) Auditor and has made the switch from Accrual to Cash Accounting, as better suits our small organisation.
• The 2022–23 Audit and Financial Statements have been finalised satisfactorily.
• 2022–23 Society operating income ($47K) was slightly up, expenses ($42K) down, as compared with 2021–22. The surplus is somewhat reduced, by one-off adjustments for Cash Accounting.
• A new Donations Policy was agreed and posted to our web, shifting the focus away from large or one-off donations, more towards ‘Spends and Donations’.
• These ‘Spends’ are to be made for the benefit of the Society’s own activities re Plant Sales and Propagation Group, Memberships, Website and Other Publications.
• We renewed our insurance cover, at slightly higher cost but with a spread — for Association Liability, Accident to Voluntary Workers, and Public Liability.
Memberships
• At end 2023, the total Society ‘active subscriptions’ are about 240, comparable to end of 2022.
• This figure includes ordinary subscriptions, concessions and life members.
• Subscription numbers are now to be noted regularly and plotted to discern trends.
• It is intended that new members receive a one-page flyer of membership benefits.
• We achieved a full book of Monthly Meetings and Speakers for 2023, promoting some of these speaker presentations as articles on our website or in our Journal.
• It is intended that new members receive a one-page flyer of membership benefits.
• We achieved a full book of Monthly Meetings and Speakers for 2023, promoting some of these speaker presentations as articles on our website or in our Journal.
Activities and Working Groups
• In 2023, we met again with ANBG management, who promised support for our Plant Sales, and offered access to their new Conservatory, opening around May 2024. Our Memorandum of Understanding with the Gardens is due to be renewed mid 2024.
• Under the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) agreement, Propagation Group (PROP) activities continued at CIT Bruce and also at member premises in Queanbeyan.
• Fourteen Working Bees were held, usually about a dozen participants. Prop Group conveyed 1400 plants to Autumn Sale, 20% unsold, then 550 in Spring, all sold.
• Prop Group (or other Society) members contribute site repairs, site maintenance, weeding, workshops, cutting materials, potting mixes, and propagation records,
• As an innovation, the Society signed a three-year $10,000 funding agreement with ACT Environment, to survey, map and report on ACT populations of the Keyacris grasshopper. Roger Farrow led a spring 2023 program of site visits. Plant Sale
Plant Sale
• An unseasonably hot March Sale offered about 6,000 plants, from Prop Group plus eight Member Growers (##), with about 4,200 (70%) clearance.
• During 2023, the Plant Label and Protected/Threatened Species Label charges to Growers were raised from 14c to 18c, to cover the outsourcing of label printing. At future Sales, our new printing company is to bill the Growers direct.
• In the second half of 2023, new Plant Sale Coordinators volunteered, who successfully conducted our Spring Plant Sale.
• October Sale took the number of Member Growers down to six (##). We offered about 5,000 plants, with keen early attendance and rapid clearance.
• Members had been circularised during 2023 of concerns over Autumn Sale. The intention is to proceed with March 2024, but advertising it as a ‘Small Sale’.
• In June 2023, we renewed our ACT Protected/Threatened Species (TS) licence, estimating in a full year we’d sell roughly 300 TS plants across 17 different species.
Wednesday Walks etc
• Regular Wednesday Walks, Daytime Activities Group and Field Trips continued in 2023. These are counted among the key benefits of Society membership.
Website and Other Publications
Website
• Our website’s (nativeplantscbr.com.au) main topics did not change in 2023, but more effort was made, to update the Recent Posts on the website.
• Late 2023, our web provider Giraffe has been tasked to develop website improvements that will help create an ‘Online Journal’ system.
• The website advertises our $30 Plant Book, 4th printing of 5th edition. This is our other major revenue-income source, with supplies still on hand from the 2021 printing.
• 2022–23 Book revenue fell slightly, compared with 2021–22. • Council agreed in-principle to one more reprint of the existing Plant Book, but also looked at prospects for a new and concise Plant Book.
Other Publications
• The publication, Where to Buy Native Plants in Canberra underwent a much-needed revision, which also went live as a Recent Post.
• ANPSC Bulletin (monthly via Mailchimp) and Journal (quarterly PDF) continued to be circulated separately, as key services to members. Costly hard-copy circulation of the Journal, having fallen to about 60 members, was to cease at the end of 2023.
• Under a long-standing Agreement, RMIT continued to republish ANPSC materials.
• # Other reports under the Associations Act are as per attached.
• ## Four growers are family, but each cultivates and operates, under a separate account.
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