Joint APS, APRL board meeting held Oct. 28 promotes transition from survival to growth

By Linn’s Staff

On Oct. 28, the boards of the American Philatelic Society and American Philatelic Research Library held a joint meeting at the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pa., with board members both present at the facility and others attending virtually.

APS president Mark Banchik opened the meeting by describing the current period of the APS as one of moving from survival mode to growth mode with the meeting reports emphasizing the ramping up of the growth mode.

Banchik then called the meeting into session by thanking board members past and present for their contributions. He then called on APS secretary Ed Kroft for the APS roll call.

APRL president Murray Abramson mentioned looking forward to this growth mode for the APS and APRL and then called on Matthew Healey for the APRL roll call.

Following the roll call, Banchik then specifically offered his thanks to past APS president Wade Saadi for his leadership and mentoring. He then asked for a moment of silence to remember Saadi and past contributors to the APS and APRL.

Next, Banchik passed the floor to APS attorney Kathleen Yurchak and Abramson to swear in new APRL trustee Jean Wang. Abramson introduced Wang and before her swearing in, Yurchak stated that this was being done to fulfill the in-person, albeit virtual, requirement for swearing in APRL trustees. Wang was then sworn in and congratulated.

Yurchak then interjected that an executive session had taken place before the public board meeting to discuss some board governance rules and APS status and assessments.

Banchik asked for an approval of past meeting minutes and the APS board unanimously approved the minutes of meetings on Aug. 13 and Aug. 16. Abramson then did the same for the APRL and both the APS and APRL boards then approved the minutes unanimously.

APS executive director Kirk Gillis then began his report on the 2026 APS budget. Gillis started with membership and revenue trends, stating that over the last 10 years member attrition has exceeded acquisition by 37 percent, specifically from 32,000 members to 22,800 members currently, while operational revenue has declined by roughly 19 percent from $3.23 million to $2.6 million. He said, however, that this current period is a tremendous opportunity due to relieved debts and financial stability.

There is now money totaling $3.15 million to strategically and purposively invest in operations due to the auctioning of the Kugel estate materials. The APS must now shift from managing decline to investing for growth, with the goal of achieving positive membership growth in 2027 for the first time in 30 years (since 1997).

Gillis has spent his first three and a half months meeting with staff and observing core functions to assess how the APS can grow. He then identified four areas that need attention: operational integrity, antiquated and unintegrated technology, data efficiency, and inadequate educational assets.

Regarding operation integrity, Gillis noticed departmental siloing and feels a strategic operations plan (SOP) is needed with clear objectives in order to produce common and identifiable organizational goals, specifically regarding membership and revenue. A lack of sufficient performance metrics in the past has led to less informed decision-making. The society needs less undocumented procedures and institutional memory, and more SOPs going forward.

Regarding antiquated and unintegrated technology, Gillis said this is the biggest challenge for the APS. Expertizing, circuit sales and internet sales represent 28 percent of operational revenue, and their technology is built on outdated and highly customized platforms that are no longer supported and present a high security risk.

Gillis then mentioned the website and the membership database, the latter of which has been successfully updated. However, the front end of the website still needs to be improved with regard to navigation and functionality in order to be more welcoming to new members.

Continuing with technology, he said there are too many stovepipe systems, meaning isolated systems that each have a single sign-on and where each system requires separate login credentials, such as the digital library and Stamp SCHOOL educational platform.

As for data deficiency, Gillis said that the lack of performance metrics hampers the organization’s ability to make informed decisions, relying instead on anecdotal information. There is also a lack of data in terms of membership participation and satisfaction rates regarding APS services and programs, which can affect membership renewal. He said there is also a dearth of market data to understand the needs and interests of new members in order to attract them.

In terms of inadequate educational assets, Gillis said education is pivotal to APS goals but there isn’t enough appealing educational content available through the APS. Some is dated, and the production quality needs to be improved. Good quality educational content is an important gateway to engage and nurture new members.

Currently there are more 800 educational assets that are available in the C3a online education program. However, some assets are old and of low quality. There is also content duplication.

Most of the assets have had fewer than 10 engagements in the last four years, while the four most popular assets have had between 100-130 engagements each during the same period.

Gillis then mentioned the diminishing number of information experts that are important for the transfer of philatelic knowledge. He used the example of the expertizing department, stating that there is a concern about the availability of future expertizers.

Gillis said the next steps include membership and stakeholder engagement by initiating an annual membership satisfaction survey, with the first to be sent out on Oct. 29. The objective is to determine the number and satisfaction of members participating in APS programs and services. The survey will remain the same each year in order to determine trends of engagement and satisfaction.

In the future, the APS will continue to do town halls and workshops, with the next town hall being a virtual event on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. There will also be targeted feedback sessions, with the first sessions focusing on the future and viability of circuit sales and summer seminar.

Regarding community engagement, Gillis informed attendees about the creation of six advisory task forces, each with their own charter with specific goals, comprised of two to four highly qualified community experts. There will be task forces for technology and innovation, marketing, education, APS chapters and clubs, World Series of Philately events, and the digital library.

To meet these future goals, the APS will need to reorganize and restructure. Currently all nine core functions of the APS report to the executive director, which creates bottlenecks. Going forward there will be five core departments: operations (sales, expertizing, membership, shows, donations and volunteers), marketing (publications, content development and education), library services, technology and innovation, and finance and administration.

Finally, Gillis requested preliminary approval for the 2026 budget. More details for the budget will be produced by the task forces, with the goal of approving a detailed strategic operations plan on March 31, 2026.

APS librarian and director of information services Marian Mills then began her library report by outlining a Content Development Policy for Digital Materials. Mills said that the policy is proposed to guide collection development for the digital library. She then discussed the requirements for accepting materials under the policy.

First, the material should have no copyright or access restrictions, and second, there should be sufficient research interest in and expected use of the material. Further considerations include the availability of high-quality files and comprehensive metadata, scale and format of the material, its originality, preservation and access concerns, availability of contextual information, and opportunities for collaboration, partnerships and resource sharing.

Mills further said that under the policy the librarian and digital librarian will evaluate all potential submissions and that they reserve the right to refuse any content or funds tied to content when material is being submitted. Mills then answered questions from board members.

Wang asked if there are criteria for research use, to which Mills responded that use of materials in the physical library as well as anecdotal use and recommendations would all be considered to determine the research use of submitted material. Wang also asked about capacity limitations for the digital library, to which Mills replied that there are no limitations just the added cost of further server space. Currently the digital library uses 75 percent of its purchased server space.

Banchik asked about items that are out of print, and Mills replied that scarcity of an item would be a consideration for inclusion. Ron Klimley queried whether items with a very narrow appeal would be considered, and Mills responded affirmatively.

Michael Bloom commented that literature competition entries, like those at Chicagopex, should be considered. Andrew Kelley asked if the APRL has a copyright release form for prospective material and Mills answered that is does.

Healey asked about artificial intelligence (AI), and Mills responded that the APS is working on an organizational AI policy that would include the library.

Following Mills’ report, Abramson called for the approval of the digital library collection policy, and it was accepted unanimously.

APS director of membership and shows Wendy Masorti then reported on the APS presence at the Boston 2026 World Expo. The APS will have a booth and has set a goal of recruiting 250 new members at the show. The APS will host several roundtables and presentations, the World Series of Philately Champion of Champions, and will be recording collector testimonials while there for future use on the website and for marketing.

Boston 2026 president Yamil Kouri then began his report on the status of the international show by saying the show website has been updated with a preliminary schedule of more than 170 events. In terms of fundraising, more than $1 million has been pledged with $940,000 in treasury bills and $108,000 in cash from 210 total donors (50 organizations and 160 individuals).

Current income is $4.51 million, and expenses are $4.175 million. There are 145 available dealer booths with 110 sold and one free booth for use by the APS. Regarding attending societies and postal administrations, there are currently 60 and 19 confirmed, respectively, with more than 100 meetings and seminars already scheduled.

So far there are 700 exhibit applications that have been received. Those exhibits will fill 3,200 exhibit frames. There are 4,000 exhibits frames expected to be available for the show, with 1,200 being borrowed from the APS, 900 from Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History, and the rest to be rented from the Royal Philatelic Society London. The original proposal for creating new exhibit frames for the show has been abandoned.

Of the 10 hotels in the Boston area there are 10,122 room nights booked, while the two show hotels, the Westin and Omni, are 96 percent and 75 percent sold out, respectively, with more than 6,700 room nights booked.

As for challenges, Kouri said that the tariff on exhibits issue has been resolved positively. There are still the issues of potential travel restrictions to the United States and the perception of hostilities toward international visitors. Both issues are being monitored by the show committee.

Following Kouri’s report, Banchik asked for questions and comments, and none were presented. Gillis then informed the group that the next meeting would be closer to the March 31, 2026, date for approval of the more detailed 2026 APS budget.

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