STFI Finance

[Tzaia]

Money handling at STFI has always been on the loosey-goosey side. Someone would leave and there would be checks found that had never been deposited. I always felt that the books should be handled by a bookkeeper and for a while, they were. The bookkeeper spent about a year reorganizing all the accounting so that an accountant could make sense of the books. This presented some problems. Because the finances were now intelligible and someone who actually knew what could be expensed was handling the books, irregularities were being questioned. People in the home office were not happy. A finance committee was put together and they found even more problems. What happened after that can only be described as "characteristic". The bookkeeper was let go and someone with no financial background was put into the slot. The finance committee had a list of things that needed to be changed - nothing spectacular, but 18 months later, not one suggestion was put into place. STF has only had 1 person in its entire history that has had any kind of financial training at all.

What does this mean? Maybe that ignorance is bliss.

The argument can be made that the current CEO has been a successful businessman. That depends on what you define as "successful". By his own admission, he got into some trouble building that success. I don't know how that experience plays out in a religious organization, but the truth is that there is little in the way of accountability and they like it like that. There is the appearance of accountability, but if you know anything about reviews, they are not audits, much less fraud audits. In the day-to-day accounting processes, they continue to be handled by someone who has no financial training.

But let's get into how money is spent. When I was there, nearly $800 a month was spent on keyword internet marketing - basically enough to support a Philippine family for a year. The reason why I bring this up is that trips to the Philippines netted a fair number of new followers who were promptly targeted for beatings and ejected from their homes and their jobs. Yet STFI did little or nothing to help these people after they "set them free". In true TWI fashion, any income that came in was used to promote STFI to new people, not help those who were already in, even though STFI was practically pastoral in comparison to TWI. The other problem with this internet marketing tactic was that most search engine optimization can (and I believe should) be organic. In other words you write copy in such a way that the site naturally rises to the top of where you want it to be and you get people to link to you - and you to them. If you do it right, you should never have to spend a dime on SEO, much less spend $800 a month on keyword advertising. I was alarmed about this in 2004 and felt that it was a poor use of money.

Postage was a huge part of expenditures back in those days. Since I'm not on the mailing list, I have no idea how much they're spending and how they are doing it now, but when I was there, everything was sent first class. Even when I showed them how much money could be saved by sorting and sending bulk, it fell on deaf ears. Instead they went out and rented a postage machine.

I think the problem lies in the TWI carryover mindset. Money is used to promote the product. People are not hired on the basis of ability. People are hired who buy into the whole mindset with the whole idea that they can be trained to perform a job (the way they want it done, not the way it probably should be done). Anyone, anyone, anyone who has questioned the methods or suggests that there might be a better way is shut out.

That is my experience and observation. I have no reason to believe that has changed since my exit.

[penworks]

I think the problem lies in the TWI carryover mindset. Money is used to promote the product. People are not hired on the basis of ability. People are hired who buy into the whole mindset with the whole idea that they can be trained to perform a job (the way they want it done, not the way it probably should be done). Anyone, anyone, anyone who has questioned the methods or suggests that there might be a better way is shut out.

Sounds like a TWI carry over to me, too. I am a prime example of this "being hired not on the basis of ability" but of commitment to the org. Invited to be on the research team from 1984-87, I came on board with no college degree, no formal training in research methods or languages of the texts, other than in-house Aramaic classes taught to the Way Corps and some Aramaic tasks I had helped with over the years. But to say I was competent to actually produce a translation of the N.T. is ridiculous.

When Joe Wise, who WAS competent and had earned his degree from the Univ. of Chicago in Near Eastern Studies, was fired from that task in 1986 with the reason being "too academic," I went to W@lter Cum@ins and asked about this, greatly dismayed and upset about this out-of-nowhere decision (this is an understatement). W. Cum@ins looked at me and in complete seriousness said, "I was thinking you could finish it." After I recovered my composure from a hearty laugh, I realized he was not laughing. I had to explain I did not have the expertise to handle such a task, I had no training in such a complicated undertaking of translating! The odd and shocking thing was, W. Cum@ins had known me since 1970 and was very familiar with my skill level. It seems that competency was not always favored over assumed loyalty to TWI.

After I resigned, another Corps grad came in off the field to finish the interlinear. Today, he continues VPW's research methods, etc. and runs a TWI offshoot in the D.C. area...

[Ham]

my opinion of *mr* cummins sinks lower from where it was before..

oh well..

[batcave]

Unfortunately, that TWI attitude has spilled over into many companies, where loyalty and blind obedience if often favored over ability and independent thinking.

[penworks]

my opinion of *mr* cummins sinks lower from where it was before..

oh well..

oh well...he was just doing his job...

[GarthP2000]

... and the point is?