Lontar Organization Structure
Background Information:
Governing Boards:
Recent Organization Changes
Like most small publishers Lontar loses money on the sales of most of
its books. Up until 1998 this shortfall
had been made up for through domestic sales of cards and customized calendars
in addition to private donations and special project funding. However
after the Asian financial crisis of 1998 the Indonesian market dried
up and Lontar was forced to reevaluate its organizational structure
and marketing strategy. The happy result of this organizational soul
searching has been a much stronger organizational structure and long
term financial plan that will ensure the long term survival of Lontar
and with it modern Indonesian literature in translation.
Structural Changes in Brief
Under the new set of Articles, ratified May 2000:
- Lontar's Board of Founders was dissolved.
- Many Founders joined the new Board of Trustees,
responsible for setting Lontar policy and direction.
- Daily operations previously managed by the Board of Founders are now
the responsibility of the new Board of
Management, chaired by the Executive
Director.
- The Editor-in-Chief is a permanent member of the Board
of Management.
- Both the Board of Trustees and the Board of Management have the
right to establish committees, teams, working groups and other support
units or appoint such advisors as is deemed necessary to carry out
the endeavors of the Foundation.
Board membership policy
Lontar considers all applications for board membership without
discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, religion, race, gender,
or political cause or group.
Board of Trustees
The Foundation is guided and supervised by its Board of Trustees,
people who wholeheartedly support the purposes and objectives of the
Foundation. To be considered for the Board of Trustees a person must
have shown himself or herself to have a strong interest in or knowledge
of Indonesian literature and culture; to have a good reputation in
his or her respective field; to be willing to dedicate himself or
herself to achieving the purposes and objectives of the Foundation;
and have expressed a convincing vision for improvements in the endeavors
of the Foundation. Board of Trustee members serve for a period of
five years and are eligible for reappointment for one or more additional
terms
Board of Management
The Foundation is managed and directed on a daily basis by a Board
of Management consisting of at least three members from one of each
of Lontar's departments (Finance and Administration, Research and
Documentation, Publications, or Marketing). To ensure that the Foundation
continues to concentrate its energies on the promotion of Indonesia
through the translation of Indonesian literature, the Foundation's
Editor-in-Chief has been made a mandatory member of the board. The
Board is chair by Lontar's Executive Director. The Board of Management
is responsible for the interests of the Foundation in the widest sense
of the word and is responsible for representing the Foundation in
and out of courts of law in all matters. It is the duty of the Board
of Management to establish the policies and by-laws of the Foundation,
establish and approve employment procedures, oversee capital and operating
budgets, and to ensure the proper management of the affairs and the
proper use of the property and assets of the Foundation.
Board of Patrons
At the time the new articles of association were ratified, Lontar's
unofficial Board of Advisors was disbanded and a new and official
Board of Patrons was established. Members of this board serve as adjunct
members of the Board of Trustees. They are the pool from which Board
of Trustees vacancies will be filled. The primary job of this board
is to assist the Board of Trustees and Board of Management to establish
and build up an endowment fund large enough to ensure sustainability
of the Foundation and through this the Foundation's core activity,
the translation and publication of Indonesian literature. Prerequisites
for a person's nomination to this board are the same as those for
the Board of Trustees.
Executive Director
The Executive Director is responsible for the custody and safekeeping
of the Foundation's funds and monies and is helped in his/her job
by the various division heads within the Foundation, at this time
Finance & Administration, Publications, Research & Documentation,
and Marketing.
Finance and Administration
Lontar accepts only assistance that supports foundation goals. Monies
earned by the Foundation that are not immediately required for its
routine activities are managed by the foundation's Board of Management
with the assistance of a professional finance consultant under a set
of guidelines established by the Board of Trustees. Each year, all
financial records are submitted to an external accountant for independent
verification and approval.
Income and assets of the Foundation, however derived, are applied
solely towards the promotion of the purposes and objectives of the
foundation and no portion thereof may be paid or transferred, directly
or indirectly, to the founders of members of the Board of Management
or the Board of Trustees.
