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December
Honoring an RVW Heroine
by Jan Harris, Past President, RVW Board of Directors
RVing Women is a place for meeting heroines—those women who stand out because of special attitudes or actions that impact others in a positive way.
Sally Johnson is one such heroine. She became a friend as soon as I met her in 1995 at an RVW event. She is very intelligent, warm, genuine, generous, family oriented, sincere and conscientious in her professional life, and she is fun.
Sally was active in her local chapter of RVW and volunteered to help at national events. We enjoyed a small traveling group known as the Cal-Okie Caravan. The group consisted of Sally Johnson, Ardis Jarrett, Alice Patton, Sheila Welt, Larry Ann Holley and Jan Harris. We made several extended trips together, including caravans to several RVW conventions. Over the years, admiration for Sally Johnson grew as her work as a certified public accountant was observed and her personal integrity was demonstrated.
As a candidate for the RVW board of directors in 2003, I began to try to learn more and more about the organization and the current leadership. Members, like me, are often not as aware of the overall ramifications of operating a national nonprofit organization as they might need to be. My earlier experience led me to seek more knowledge. As 2004 arrived, so did the reality of the presidency of RVW and the many responsibilities inherent in that role. Several of the members on the board of directors had expertise in a variety of areas. None were CPAs or had specific nonprofit accounting experience. I therefore began to seek guidance and verify information from my friend Sally Johnson. When the board was notified that there would be an audit by the Internal Revenue Service, Sally became a frequent contact.
Sally prepared the financial material for review by the auditor while I prepared the operational material for the audit. We worked with an employed independent certified public accountant to ensure that everything was in order for the visit. The auditor’s fee was approximately one-fourth of the auditor’s fee for the previous year. During the first months of our preparation, Sally was volunteering her time as a member of RVW. She became a candidate for the board of directors and was elected before the actual audit occurred. She then became a volunteer extraordinaire as she devoted more and more time to the task.
We hosted the auditor shortly after Sally joined the board of directors in January of 2005.
The final results of the audit were not officially available until September of 2005. Initially, we passed the financial aspects of our audit but failed to document, satisfactorily, the operation of RVW and the existing chapters as primarily educational. We were denied nonprofit status as an educational entity. Through the extensive efforts of Sally and our CPA, Jane Swalley, we were granted nonprofit status as a social organization. Thus, Sally became my heroine. She saved the organization thousands of dollars in tax losses and in penalties and fees for the year of the audit, 2003, by proving that we were operating in a legal manner as a nonprofit organization.
Sally has continued to work with our RVW bookkeeper to convert to a nonprofit bookkeeping method acceptable to the IRS for our type of organization. She has worked with each office process and procedure to assure that there are checks and balances in place to assure safe, effective and legal operation of the organization. She has put in place the necessary reports for chapters to assure their effective compliance with IRS requirements for the foreseeable future. Sally also established a system of financial management for convention funds over the last four years, which will make life easier for future convention managers. Reporting of income and expense from conventions must be classified accurately as to source or expenditure to assure compliance with our mission under the law.
Looking to the future, Sally has formed a Finance Committee to serve as a resource for the board with expertise in the accounting arena. She has also guided the development of a financial manual for all of those involved in the financial aspects of RVW’s operation.
The impact of Sally’s dedication to ensuring the future of RVing Women cannot be measured. She has been a heroine to RVW before and during her two terms on the board of directors.
Thanks, Sally, we love you.
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