You can view pictures of the ongoing restoration of the Shrine here as well as a slideshow of the original building construction.

The restoration was cosmetic as well as structural. The structural additions reinforced the structure from top to bottom to be able to withstand an earthquake. The cosmetic changes were myriad. The most visible change was the installation of new tiles atop the famous golden dome of the building.

As with the other buildings on Mount Carmel, the harsh Haifa air, heavily laden with corrosive salt and other chemicals from the refinery and industrial complexes in the Haifa bay area had damaged the golden glazing of the tiles at the top of the Shrine.

The official press release from the Baha’i News Service includes this about the cause of the restoration:

More than 50 years of exposure to Haifa’s climate and environmental conditions had taken their toll on the superstructure’s stonework and dome…

According to Mr. Saeid Samadi, the architect and project leader based out of California, the new gold glazed tiles sourced from Portugal are manufactured to be able to withstand the harsh conditions of the Haifa bay. His estimation is that they will last from 200 to 300 years.

Below is a slideshow of the unveiling and the newly restored building:

As well as being a holy site for Baha’is, the Shrine of the Bab is a major tourist attraction and a designated world heritage site by UNESCO.

Related posts:

1. The Restoration of the Shrine of the Bab
2. New Baha’i Renovation & Beautification Projects
3. The Circle is Complete

The choice of the Netherlands is understandable considering that Suriname was claimed as a colony by the Dutch in 1667 and only gained its independence on November 25 1975. Dutch is still their official language.

The choice of Canada however is puzzling. There is no connection between the two countries other than Canada being a wealthier nation that can afford to support the renovation effort.

But if that is the only criteria that makes sense, the Universal House of Justice could have easily asked any number of countries that are wealthy to send them the funds. Why not the US? Japan? Germany?

Bahai Center in Paramaribo Suriname

Suriname is a tiny country (the smallest in South America) with less than half a million citizens which live mostly in Paramaribo – the capital city along the North coast.

It would even make more sense to ask a country in the same continent. For example, Brazil or Venezuela. Or Chile (oh, right, they’re kind of busy with their own project).

Perhaps the Universal House of Justice is keeping close tabs on the financial state of the Baha’i community in Canada and knows they can easily afford it.

For more information, here is the website of the Baha’i community of Suriname.

Related posts:

1. New Counsellors Appointed by UHJ
2. New Baha’i Renovation & Beautification Projects
3. Highlight From US National Convention

The Canadian National Spiritual Assembly’s Treasurer, Mr. Enayat Rawhani, issued this letter recently:

At its recent meeting, the National Spiritual Assembly reviewed the financial position of the Canadian community as part of the formulation of a budget that would provide for activities related to the first year of the new Five Year Plan. A thrilling picture of Canada’s contribution to the growth of the Faith emerged from our review. At the same time, we noted with growing concern that the needs have substantially exceeded the flow of contributions to the national fund. Over the last few months, therefore, the National Assembly has drawn from funds set aside from bequests and endowments so that commitments to other funds of the Cause and the movement of the Plan in Canada may not be impeded. Examples include increased contributions to the House of Worship in Chile, an historic restoration of the Shrine in Montreal in preparation for the centenary of the visit of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, the winning of Canada’s international pioneer goals through the settlement of a large number of pioneers, international collaborative projects in Congo and Burkina, and of course, the personnel and operational costs of the processes of growth throughout the country.

Contributions to the fund fluctuate throughout the year, but by the end of March, the Assembly can usually foresee whether the contributions will meet the year’s needs. This year, contributions as of the end of March had reached $4,000,000, an amount which fell $700,000 short of the year-to-date expenditure budget. This gap moved us to immediately share the state of affairs with you, calling for a supreme effort to remedy this condition and in fact, welcome the new Plan at Ridvan with a surplus.

You can read the Treasurer’s full letter here. Interestingly enough, Rawhani is one of the longest serving members of the NSA with more than 16 years of continuous incumbency under his belt. But only the two most recent have seen him serve as Treasurer for the national body.

Most Baha’is will find nothing in the above letter surprising or out of the ordinary. After all, we are all used to receiving such exhortations about the fund. They are usually delivered with a breathless tone of impending doom and gloom. If we don’t immediately give sacrificially, who knows what will happen!

So why do I say, “well that didn’t take long?”. Because we just reviewed the financial situation of the Baha’i community. Based on the NSA’s own disclosure to the Canadian tax authorities, we know that the Canadian Baha’i community is doing very well financially. This is a chart that I shared with you already:

Total liquid assets have been growing consistently and the NSA now has more than $32.5 million. If we count non-liquid assets such as land and buildings, then it is more than that by a few million.

In fact, just a few days ago, I wrote this:

I hope that with this warchest, the NSA doesn’t resort to the past manufactured financial crisis situations to motivate Baha’is to donate.

From the NSA’s own disclosures to the CRA, here is a concise summary of their annual financial status going back to 1996:

The NSA has consistently banked surplus after surplus, year after year. The cumulative net surplus over this time period is $28.7 million which would account for almost all the accumulated liquid assets that the NSA has at this point.

The only time there was a large deficit was in 2009 when they decided to contribute $12.5 million to the Chile Temple project. This created a $5.5 million deficit. Without this there would have been a surplus of $7.5 million. This donation to the Chile project provided another interesting discrepancy that is yet to be explained.

There is just one month remaining in the Baha’i fiscal year so the above letter can be seen as a ‘Hail Mary’ to try to get Baha’is to donate within this window of opportunity to prevent a $700,000 deficit. What I balk at here is not the letter itself in isolation. But that it is merely one among many similar letters that present a completely different picture and tone to that which the NSA itself reports to the Canadian government. We’ve seen many similar letters sent to the community during previous years when the fund ultimately presented a surplus.

I balk at the selective disclosure that the NSA engages in to reinforce informational asymmetry within the Baha’i community. They have never disclosed the full financial situation. They have never reported the true financial status of the community to the members of the community. They never report the balance sheet which would then show the massive and growing assets, both liquid and capital of the NSA. They never report the full income statement nor explain what exactly they are doing with the funds or how they are making decisions about them.

The pattern of behavior exhibited by the NSA is one of extremely limited disclosure coupled with intermittent jeremiads, like the one above, bemoaning the state of the fund and asking for further donations to avert a crisis. I find this wholly contemptible.

Related posts:

1. NSA of Canada Funds Report for 2010
2. Annual Report from NSA of Canada
3. Appeal Court Decision: US NSA Loses (Again)

At Baha’i Rants, with Naw-Ruz comes the ritual reading of the Canadian funds report as submitted to the Canadian Revenue Agency by the NSA of Canada. Thanks to this government mandated disclosure, Baha’is get a glimpse into the financial workings of their community. Sadly, this is something that would not be possible otherwise since the NSA believes that opacity takes precedence over transparency and have not to this date shared such information with the community at large voluntarily or supplemented the government mandated disclosure with any further information or explanations.

As with last year’s exercise, this one leaves much to be desired. It isn’t difficult to find errors and strange things in the T3010 forms. I encourage you to go to the source and see for yourself at the CRA website.

Revenues
Just as last year, the total revenue reported by the NSA (or whoever filled out the T3010 on behalf of the NSA) is incorrect. The total revenue line is quite simple to calculate, if you know how to add and read at a rudimentary level.

As the form helpfully says: “Total revenue (add line 4500, 4510 to 4580, and 4600 to 4650)”. If we do so, following that guidance diligently, the amount is $13,539,028. However, the amount reported by the NSA is $14,980,518.

A significant discrepancy of $1,441,490.

Simple arithmetic 2, Treasury Department of the NSA 0. The brutal battle royale continues. Perhaps we should buy the NSA a calculator? or an abacus at least. That should even the odds a bit.

What could possibly explain the $1.4 million discrepancy? I don’t really know but it may have something to do with the $2 million interest and investment income.

I suspect that this amount is also incorrect and that it has lead to the incorrect total revenue amount being reported. By itself it seems beyond belief for three simple and logical reasons. First, we are in a low interest rate environment. Second, I don’t believe that the NSA would jeopardize the funds of the Faith by exposing them to high risk, and therefore, seeking a high return. Third, the total portfolio amount reported is not large enough to provide for such a yield.

Finally, if we are to argue that the $2 million in interest and income derived from investments is a reasonable amount, then we must explain how the NSA’s portfolio did not earn an amount even approaching that sum the previous year.

Last year the NSA reported just $83,700 for the line 4580 “Total interest and investment income received or earned”. So obviously something is amiss.

It would make sense if the $2 million were to be instead disposition of assets. Or a combination of interest and income earned as well as disposition of assets.

Apart from such odd discrepancies, the pattern of donations seems to be holding steady from last year and increasing from prior years.

Assets and Liabilities
The assets of the Baha’i community of Canada have been steadily increasing over the years. In 1996 the liquid assets (excluding capital assets like buildings) were a little over $5 million. In 2010 they were more than $32.5 million.

There was an uncharacteristic decrease in 2004 but once again, I suspect that this is due to an error. Prior to 2004 the NSA had been reporting $12-13 million in “Other Investments” but in 2004 they suddenly reported zero and continued to do so until 2009 when they suddenly reported $4.35 million.

The other interesting thing is that the NSA is reporting $5.2 million in liabilities in 2010. This is the most debt the NSA has reported for more than 15 years. It is probably a mortgage debt related to one or more properties.

I hope that with this warchest, the NSA doesn’t resort to the past manufactured financial crisis situations to motivate Baha’is to donate. Cash or cash equivalents are at $27 million, receivables at more than $1 million and investments at $4.35 million. This year there was a surplus of $2.8 million.

The key question is what is the NSA planning to do with this much money? As the amount grows, so does my concern. This large amount of money coupled with limited or non-existent controls, oversight and disclosure provides for a fertile environment for nasty things to happen. We’ve already seen a financial scandal in Italy. I don’t want to see one in Canada.

As the total amount grows, so does the potential for theft and fraud. As does the challenge of managing the money and providing proper stewardship. Unfortunately, we have no information about who is managing this portfolio for the NSA nor how they are doing so.

Commensurate with the large amounts in question is the imperative for the NSA to give proper account of what exactly its intentions are for the funds and how they are managing them.

Related posts:

1. NSA of Canada Funds Report For 2009
2. Annual Report from NSA of Canada
3. Canadian NSA Ignores Surplus, Issues Fund Appeal

But much more is being done. Almost every facet of the building, facade and details are being restored. As well, structural engineer have buttressed the foundation and skeleton to make it earthquake proof.

It was not too long ago that the Archives building was completely restored. The facade of that building had eroded very badly due to the air pollution. Haifa, being an industrial and port city, has corrosive chemicals as well as salt from the sea. Make no mistake, Baha’is pay a very high price for the beautiful buildings and gardens on Mt. Carmel. And we can look forward to ongoing restoration as the expensive but soft marble gets damaged again and again.

The first shows the original building of the shrine with some of the prominent persons responsible for its design and construction:

The second slideshow features some pictures of the current restoration work:

Related posts:

1. Renovation of the Shrine of the Bab Complete
2. Archives Building Undergoing Restoration
3. New Baha’i Renovation & Beautification Projects

Please don’t take my word for anything and double check the numbers for yourself. You can see the T3010 Charities Tax Return filled out by the NSA by visiting the CRA charities website. Unfortunately Baha’is like me have to rely on this information because the NSA does not share information with them via normal Baha’i channels.

As you’ll see below, even within this legally enforced format, their disclosure leaves much to be desired and rather than provide answers, it delivers new questions. Below you’ll find some of the things that jumped out at me. Perhaps you’ll notice other points and if so, I’d welcome your comments.

Revenues
In the Revenue section of the “Statement of Operations” there is a clumsy error showing that simple arithmetic continues to challenge the Treasury department at the NSA of Canada.

(Statement of Operations) Revenue:	T3010 Line #	Total ($)
Total eligible amount of all gifts for which the charity issued tax receipts	4500	$6,688,533
Total amount received from other registered charities (excluding specified gifts and enduring property)	4510	$4,201,533
Total specified gifts from other registered charities	4520	$89,124
Total other gifts received for which a tax receipt was not issued by the charity	4530	$1,086,582
Total interest and investment income received or earned	4580	$83,700
Gross proceeds from disposition of assets	4590	$3,280,443
Net proceeds from disposition of assets (show a negative amount with brackets)	4600	-MISSING-
Other revenue not already included in the amounts above	4650	$13,374
Total revenue (add line 4500, 4510 to 4580, and 4600 to 4650)	4700	$12,284,818
Total Revenue (est. by assuming net approximates gross proceeds)		$14,267,583

Line 4600 is simply missing (empty cell rather than the word MISSING that I wrote above). If we assume that the total number ($12,284,818) entered in the T3010 is correct, then that implies a net proceed of $1,175,706 from the gross proceed of $3,280,443 – less than half. Of course, you and I are not privy to the actual accounting ledgers but can only go by what we’re given from the NSA. But that implied amount for the net proceeds is highly improbable as it would require an unfathomably exorbitant expense related to the sale of the assets. Much more likely is a clerical or human error.

So either the person who filled out this form made a mistake by calculating the net amount incorrectly and then compounded that mistake by excluding it from the form (only allowing us to calculate the amount via inference by deducting it out of the sum) or they made the mistake of not adding the net proceed amount correctly to approximate the gross proceed (somewhere close to $3 million) and then forgot to add it to the net revenue. In either case, the key word here is mistake and somewhere, someone made either one or several.

The next interesting tidbit is that total donations (however we finally calculate it) were significantly lower than the previous year – in 2008 the NSA reported total revenue of $16,277,836. For the past 10 years or so, the NSA built up quite a war-chest as almost every single year had positive net inflows (I know, I know, during those same years they were continuously screaming about deficits and shortfalls – that’s another story). To make up for the shortfall in 2009, it seems that the NSA dipped into its coffers and sold about $3 million worth of investments. This represents about 13% of its total 2008 liquid assets.

Chile Baha’i Temple
So what did they do with the money raised by donations from Baha’is and from the sale of their long term investments? The NSA decided to step up big time (or they were directed to by the UHJ/ITC) and sent the vast majority of their donations (and then some!) to help build the temple in Chile. In total, $12,988,273 was sent outside of Canada:

Organization	Amount ($)
Total Activities outside Canada	$12,988,273
NSA Baha'is of the US	$59,150
NSA Baha'is of Chile	$12,538,058
Various NSA's, Pioneering & Teaching	$391,065

This is much more than the average ($4 million) for expenditures sent outside of Canada for the past 12 years and close to the highest amount sent outside Canada in 2004 – $14 million. But those funds were sent to Haifa. The fact that the NSA sold off a significant amount of their investment assets implies that this was done to pay for the ongoing construction costs and that they did so as directed by Haifa. This isn’t surprising as usually the most well off countries pay much more than the average share of such projects.

Compensation
There are several important issues here with compensation. First of all, this is the first time ever that the NSA has actually followed the CRA laws and disclosed the total amount that it is paying in salaries and like compensation. They have also gone back and re-submitted this for the 2008 and 2007 returns (but not the previous years). For example, in the T3010 filings for the fiscal year 2004 there is $43,746 under “Management & Administrative Expenses” even though in another location they cite the total number of compensated employees at 45!

In any case, now that we finally have the information, it is very interesting. In total, the NSA spent $2,431,889 on compensation for the fiscal year 2009. That is a significant amount relative to the total donations received. Using their own total amount for donations received, then the NSA of Canada spent 20% of their total revenue on compensation.

The sum comes up to a huge amount if we divide by the 20 or so people who work full time or part time in Baha’i administration in Canada. Why 20? To start, we have 9 people on the NSA itself and then about 10 others who work at the National offices and other ancillary administrative work. It is a rough estimate, I’ll concede, but it will do for a back of the napkin calculation. So $2,431,889 divided by 20 is $121,594 – that’s a lot of money! That’s more than $10,000 every single month for one year, for 20 people. Wow.

Fortunately, the CRA requires charities to provide some more information regarding their compensation expenditures. They do not have to detail their compensation expenditures but only have to disclose how many full-time employees are within certain ranges:

Salary (Min)	Salary (Max)	Salary (Median)	# Persons	Total
Discrepancy				$1,621,889
$1	$39,999	$20,000	1	$40,000
$40,000	$79,999	$40,000	9	$720,000
(NA)	(NA)	Part-Time	3	$50,000
Total Compensation				$810,000
Total Compensation Reported to CRA				$2,431,889

In the salary range of $1 – $39,999 the NSA has 1 full time employee. In the salary range of $40,000 – $79,999 the NSA has 9 employees (quite possibly the NSA members). And finally, there are 3 part time employees who received a total of $50,000 compensation in aggregate.

Let’s assume the maximum for each salary range. So for we have $40,000 plus 9 full time employees at $80,000 each and finally, $50,000. That is a total of $810,000.

Hmmmm…. notice anything? The total compensation for the salaried workers is $810,000 – giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming the maximum point in the range – but the total compensation is $2,431,889. So there is more than $1,600,000 unaccounted for.

If we assume the median, rather than the maximum for the salary range, the difference is even larger. A very large amount of money is spent via expense accounts (including travel, short term accommodation, etc.) as well as salaries relative to the total budget of the NSA. Unfortunately, the NSA is not only reticent to share information when it comes to the annual report submitted to delegates at the National Convention, it is also reluctant to accurately fill out the CRA charities report as you can see. Or perhaps they are just incompetent and the calculator was being used by someone that day.

Well, that’s about it. If I notice anything else of import, I’ll mention it. But for now, let me know what you think. If you’re a Baha’i in Canada, have you ever tried to contact the NSA requesting more detailed financial information? I’ve spoken to a few Baha’is who tell me that their experiences with the Treasury department are slightly less interesting and fruitful than talking to sheetrock.

Oh and if any fellow Baha’i from the US knows how or where to access the 990 form for the NSA of the US, let me know. Thank you.

Related posts:

1. NSA of Canada Funds Report for 2010
2. Annual Report from NSA of Canada
3. NSA Elections in North America 2009

The Universal House of Justice has communicated the expansion and continuation of renovations and beautifications for existing and expanding Baha’i properties in Israel. Click to read the full letter here.

The BWC has been able to exchange some land north of Akka for a plot adjacent to the Mansion of Bahji. The current resident is the Israeli Military. There are continuing negotiations with the government for additional land exchanges adjacent to the Mansion of Mazra’ih and the Ridvan Garden.

There are renovation and beautification plans for the Ridvan Garden (in Israel) and well as Junayn Gardens, also frequented by Baha’u'llah (although much less frequently). I haven’t visited the Junayn Gardens but when I was in the Ridvan Garden I didn’t find anything that looked shaby or needed beautifying.

It was, to my eyes, a beautiful and relaxing place with little or no evidence of the hyper-manicured lawns and flowers of Mt. Carmel. In fact, I preferred its more rustic and natural look. I’m certainly no expert but it would seem to me that it was more historically accurate and in keeping with the conditions that were present at the time of Baha’u'llah. But then again, I don’t want to make assumptions because the UHJ hasn’t detailed what exactly they will be doing to “beautify” the Ridvan Garden.

The Shrine of the Bab will also receive attention with the installation of earthquake resistant support, the restoration or replacement of the dome tiles (gold plated) which have lost their shine due to exposure to the harsh elements of Haifa’s port city atmosphere and the opening of the remaining 3 chambers, behind the Bab’s resting place, to the visiting public and Baha’is. Presently this space is closed off to visitors and is being used for storage. This space was, curiously enough, used by Shoghi Effendi, to house temporarily the archives related to the Baha’i Faith.

Speaking of the archives, the International Archives Building is being fully restored and renovated both inside and out. I covered the reason for the restoration of the Archives building previously.

Since I wrote about the detrimental effect of Haifa’s polluted air, nothing has really changed. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised at all if within our lifetimes the BWC had to undertake a wholesale and complete restoration project to repair the damage it had wrought to the Arc buildings.

As you may have surmised by now, all of this will require money. So the UHJ is asking for donations through the NSAs and various Baha’i funds to finance these restoration, renovation and expansion projects.

Related posts:

1. Renovation of the Shrine of the Bab Complete
2. The Restoration of the Shrine of the Bab
3. Renovation of National Baha’i Center in Suriname

I’m not sure if any Baha’is who live in Alaska read this humble little blog. I only ask because if there are any fellow Baha’is from there, they probably already know the news that I’m about to share with you.

The great State of Alaska has recently decided to become so transparent that they have put their whole checkbook on the internet for everyone to see.

All expenses over $1000 are detailed and shared on their Division of Finance website. You can download the spreadsheet in either Excel or Adobe PDF.

Can you imagine that? total transparency from a state government?!? I was floored when I read this! Like many others I don’t hold politicians and by relationship, the bureaucracy of government in high regard. But here they were surprising the heck out of me!

One of my pet peeves is how opaque the Baha’i administration is when it comes to the fund. I’ve already gripped about it here so you can read that instead of me rehashing it all.

As far as I know, there is no precedent for the kind of transparency that Alaska has implemented in any religious organization. In the previous discussion Sonja mentioned that as a member of a local New Zealand Baha’i community they did have transparency. But sadly, I find this the exception, rather than the rule. Even this iota of transparency is limited to the local level. I have heard of no NSA being equally transparent with their member community.

But even if no religious organization is transparent… who cares? I want the Baha’i Faith to blaze trails, to go where others haven’t, to be refreshing, exciting, invigorating, and to inspire individuals.

Money is just that, money. It is not the end all and be all of a community. It is simply a tool. So then the question is, are we using this tool to our best ability? are we bending it to perform fully in service of the Cause? are we using it in a way that encourages fellowship, unity and growth?

I would argue that more transparency would serve those ends rather than less. This is not a new idea really. Many for-profit organizations have this level of transparency. Just search for “open book management”.

To me, personally, when I see that the Baha’i administration doesn’t share information about the fund… it communicates that they don’t trust me. That they don’t want me in the loop. I’m not included. I’m supposed to stand over there and just hand over my money.

On the flip side, asking for transparency can be seen as a sign that we, the Baha’i community are implying that we don’t trust those who are on the institutions and manage the funds of the Faith. All I can say is that, unfortunately, we don’t have a spotless record on that. Mistakes have been made and since we are only fallible human beings struggling to transform into higher beings, we will undoubtedly continue to face such challenges.

Which then begs the question, would it serve such purposes to be more transparent or less? would secrecy and opacity serve the interests of those that stray? making it easier for them to hide and defraud? or would it make it more difficult?

In any case, the advantages of transparency go leaps beyond such concerns. The much larger picture is that transparency and the sharing of information creates unity and inspires individuals to be motivated by loftier ideals.

Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts. What do you think?

No related posts.

After watching this I couldn’t help but think of all the money that was spent to build the Baha’i Arc project on Mt. Carmel.

Imagine if instead of $250,000,000.00 (that’s $250 Million US) we had instead spent $2.5 Million and then used the rest to “tap into the water” and help people in dire need.

Does the world need marble-clad buildings? or medicine for children? Had Abdu’l-Baha been with us, what do you imagine He would have decided?

Would the prestige of the Baha’i Faith be elevated more by sumptuous buildings and gardens or by deeds of charity that bring health, food, shelter and education to the poor?

Lyrics:

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You’re not alone in this story’s pages
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in

[Chorus]
The world’s on fire and
It’s more than I can handle
I’ll tap into the water
(I try to pull my ship)
I try to bring more
More than I can handle
(Bring it to the table)
Bring what I am able

I watch the heavens and I find a calling
Something I can do to change this moment
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
Don’t wanna be left alone, don’t wanna be alone

[Chorus]
Hearts break, hearts mend
Love still hurts
Visions clash, planes crash
Still there’s talk of
Saving souls, still the cold
Is closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take, the less we become
A fortune of one that means less for some

[Chorus]

Related posts:

1. Haifa Fire Does Not Threaten Baha’i World Centre