A split has emerged within the ranks of IPRA, the International Public
Relations Association, over its financial health and the type of
services offered to members.
Sweden’s 60-strong membership has voiced concerns about the way the
organisation is run. Earlier this month Swedish council members sent a
letter outlining the need for emergency measures to stave off bankruptcy
to IPRA board and council members attending a meeting in India, acopy of
which was leaked to PR Week.
A second letter sent to individual members advised them to postpone
payment of their fees for 1997 until the financial situation was
resolved.
However, IPRA’s executive director Rosemary Graham denied that the IPRA
faces a financial crisis and played down the significance of the Swedish
claims. While admitting that IPRA incurred substantial costs in moving
the secretariat from Geneva to London earlier this year, she denied
that the association was running at a deficit. She added that,
following measures taken in India, the Swedish council would now advise
members to pay next year’s dues, if they wished - a fact confirmed by
national co-ordinator Goran Mandeus.
‘At the meeting in India we identified a potential cashflow shortfall,
so measures were taken to move money from one budget to another,’ said
Graham. ‘We are solvent and we continue to be solvent.’
Although some Swedish IPRA members were critical of the direction of the
association, Graham argued that it offered a range of benefits,
including publications, development seminars and the Golden World
Awards.
