The organization has fallen short of many of its fundraising goals, and Executive Director David Barre expects to submit a short-term solution to NLGJA’s Board of Directors within 30 days.

The details of NLGJA’s financial troubles were not made available to Insight.

The board, which discussed NLGJA’s financial state during meetings Wednesday and Thursday, did most of its work behind closed doors, in an executive session.

For the first discussion, the board allowed incoming members, Deputy Executive Director Thomas Cashman Avila and Barre to be present in the executive session.

Members were divided about how transparent to be, with nine voting to move into an executive session, one opposing and two abstaining.

 “To have the whole discussion off the record goes against everything for openness and transparency,” NLGJA Board Member Randy Dotinga said. “We are hiding the whole discussion."

“It’s worth it to show we are an open organization.”

Thursday’s meeting also included a private discussion about finances. Incoming board members and Barre were permitted to stay.

“The fact is we are going to be talking about personnel issues,” NLGJA President Eric Hegedus said. “We will be discussing what needs to be discussed without violating anyone’s personal space.”

Executive sessions are typically used for personnel matters and usually don’t include disclosure about the organization’s finances.

NLGJA chapter presidents were allowed to join the meeting, which remained closed to the public. Another vote was taken to move into an executive session, with seven members in favor, four opposed and three abstaining.

“We want to be able to talk freely about the problems we’ve faced with sponsors,” Hegedus said. “I don’t think it would be fair to them to speak about them. It’s disrespectful, and we’re not going to do that.”

Adding to NLGJA’s expenses is an increased salary for Barre.

The process to find an executive director remained under budget, but Barre took a pay raise when he accepted the position.

“I was offered slightly more than their base pay,” he said. “I did think it was on the high end of their budget. My salary is a big chunk of the budget. That’s motivation for me to bring in more money.”

Although he did receive a pay increase, Barre said he went to the board and asked them to lower it.

A long-term financial solution for the organization will be hashed out as the board and Barre work together in the coming months.

“Budget crunches happen sometimes,” Hegedus said. “We are an industry that is seeing a lot of change. That affects a lot of our members. Sometimes things change and you have to adjust for it.

“We have got to come up with a plan to keep moving forward and keep NLGJA healthy.”