Paul De Barros has an article in the August Downbeat magazine about the fall of IAJE.
“That’s one of the main questions,” said Laura Johnson, recent IAJE treasurer and executive producer for Jazz at Lincoln Center. “Is it about serving educators or about serving the entire jazz community? Can you do both? And how do you do both well?”
Some board members contend that excessive spending by IAJE Executive Director Bill McFarlin brought the 40-year-old, $2.6 million organization down. But an examination of the group’s federal tax records from fiscal years 2000 to 2006 suggests that the board also did not take action as the budgetary crisis loomed.
In the fiscal year ending June 2001, IAJE’s net assets and bank balance were nearly $800,000, it had no significant debt and a year-end surplus of $15,000. The next year, it spent down half of that surplus paying for a poorly attended 2002 conference in Long Beach, Calif. (The aftershocks of September 11 had a harsh impact on attendance.) By June 2005, the organization was effectively wiped out. Yearly losses stood at $313,151, the organization had a $150,000 line of credit and a cumulative debt of $142,000. Even as revenues were diminishing, however, IAJE was expanding worldwide, convening board meetings on several continents, spawning new programs and hiring new employees. The question is: why?
Downbeat.com has provided links to the IAJE tax records on their website.