IDEA Board divvies funds before wind-up

IDEA President James Murray (Nikon) has confirmed that the organisation will dissolve itself in 2022, after dividing $300,000 of remaining association funds among five members: Nikon, Kayell, Leica, Epson and CR Kennedy.

The latest IDEA financial report lodged with the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission shows there was $387,000 in cash remaining in IDEA’s account. IDEA enjoys tax-exempt status as a non-for-profit organisation which is supposed to promote the interests of the industry it is supposed to serve. It has clearly been neglecting those obligations for many years now.

Each of the five businesses benefitting from the grants can qualify for up to $60,000 each towards a marketing campaign ‘to amplify and extend community awareness of photography, videography and their related products and services, but to also inspire consumers to recognise the unique features on cameras that are not available on mobilephones.’

James Murray told Inside Imaging that four of the five marketing campaigns proposed remain confidential, apparently because they are ‘yet to launch’, but said his company, Nikon, was running a photo competition with the IDEA funds: https://mynikonlife.com.au/playcation. Entrants are allowed to use a mobile phone for their entries, which seems to contradict the emphasis on ‘the unique features on cameras’. It’s difficult to discern how Nikon’s IDEA-funded promotion differs from other marketing initiatives on Nikon’s loyalty program website, MyNikonLife.

We reported extensively on the planned wind-up of IDEA last July, with zero response from our readership. Six months later there is little else to report:  https://www.insideimaging.com.au/2020/idea-heading-for-endgame/

To read the full IDEA press release: End of an era – IDEA to wind up operations in June 2022

COMMENT: Does anyone else find this all a bit sad and unseemly, or is it just us here at Inside Imaging? Does dividing up remaining IDEA funds, – which came from industry events and taxpayers – among board members’ companies, and then shutting the association down, pass the Pub Test? Let us know in the poll below!