Just to remind you: FSMTB is a non-profit that exists to serve…
massage and bodywork professionals
a community of practitioners
Thank you for your interest in my annual reports on the financial status of the major non-profit organizations of the massage therapy profession. I am not an accountant or a financial expert. This information was taken directly from FORM 990, the Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which is published on Guidestar. This filing is for NCBTMB‘s fiscal year ending12-31-2012. Non-profits are on a different tax filing schedule than the rest of us.
This has not been a banner year…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on January 2, 2014 at 5:55pm — 1 Comment
Note: For the past few years I have done a series of reports on the financial status of the non-profit organizations that represent the massage therapy profession. I obtain this information from Guidestar, a financial information clearinghouse for non-profits. The organizations can provide their Form 990 (Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax) to Guidestar, and if they don’t, the IRS does it for them. I will state for…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on November 21, 2013 at 6:56pm — No Comments
I’ve seen some ups and downs since joining the massage profession about 15 years ago, but never, in all that time, have I been as disgusted and dismayed with one of our organizations as I am today. I feel as if I have a vested interest in all of them, so I have the right to complain—and to call on them for help.
The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork was the only path to licensing in many regulated states for a lot of years. Their exams are written…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on October 28, 2013 at 5:19pm — No Comments
I hear through the grapevine that the Nevada State Board of Massage Therapists has voted to terminate their agency's membership in the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards. Why the big thumbs down? The main reason was a failure to deliver on the many promises FSMTB has made to its Member Boards.
It’s been several years since I was a delegate to the FSMTB annual meeting, so I went to the website to see what’s happening. The page entitled “Member Services” is “under construction.”…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on May 20, 2013 at 3:43am — 1 Comment
The NCBTMB has decided to call for comments on their latest revisions for the CE/Approved Provider program–something they should have done before they ever unrolled the plan to start with–and I can virtually guarantee they aren’t going to like the responses they receive. I have…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on March 28, 2013 at 9:09am — No Comments
I have received the following from the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards. I personally think they are far off the mark on what they intend to do with continuing education, and with their refusal to consider any joint effort with the NCBTMB to organize and streamline the approval process for the good of all concerned. This is their MOCC-ERY plan redux, and it’s giving me a bad case of acid reflux. The…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on February 28, 2013 at 11:59am — No Comments
Whether you prefer the Bob Dylan original version, or the popular treatment by Peter, Paul & Mary, we have our own version of Blowin’ in the Wind being sung by the leaders of FSMTB and NCBTMB.
My last blog (February 11) focused on problems with regulation of continuing education in the massage profession, and put the spotlight on a comprehensive white paper written by Rick Rosen that offers a innovative solution to a very confusing situation. There’s been a lot of…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on February 24, 2013 at 8:45am — No Comments
As I’ve written about on this blog, the NCBTMB has been trying to roll out an “upgraded” scheme to regulate the entire world of continuing education. After all, their stated mission is “To define and advance the highest standards in the massage and bodywork profession.” (Doesn’t that give them free rein to tell the rest of us what to do?) Apparently, NCB wasn’t satisfied with just approving CE providers – now they want to…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on February 11, 2013 at 8:37am — 1 Comment
All the talk in recent weeks of the “fiscal cliff” and the refusal of the Republicans and the Democrats to play nice together in the interest of the highest common good reminds me of the current situation between the NCBTMB and the FSMTB.
The NCB is operating from hubris (not to mention cluelessness), as they continue to put forth wrong-headed initiatives for the field. The latest plan to do away with organizational approval for CE providers is just the latest in a…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on January 8, 2013 at 5:30am — No Comments
In the past couple of weeks since the NCBTMB unveiled their new plan for CE providers, which includes doing away with organizational approval, the reaction of providers has for the most part been very negative–and frankly I’m not surprised. The long-standing organizations who are providing quality continuing education approved feel, for the most part, that the organization they have supported for many years is throwing them under the bus.
Some of the main concerns that I have heard…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on December 29, 2012 at 9:45am — 2 Comments
Note: For the past few years I have done a series of reports on the financial status of the non-profit organizations that represent the massage therapy profession. I obtain this information from Guidestar, a financial information clearinghouse for non-profits. The organizations can provide their Form 990 (Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax) to Guidestar, and if they don’t, the IRS does it for them. I will state for…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on December 14, 2012 at 2:23pm — No Comments
This week’s blog is about the elections at the upcoming Federation of State Massage Therapy Boardsannual meeting in New Orleans on September 27-29. Who gets chosen to serve on the Board of Directors of this organization is important, because FSMTB controls the administration of the MBLEx– the primary licensing exam in our profession, and is in the process of trying to adopt new national standards for…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on September 18, 2012 at 4:20am — No Comments
Just to remind you: FSMTB is a non-profit that exists to serve…
Added by Laura Allen on September 8, 2012 at 4:31am — No Comments
Yes, I’m in pain. Believe it or not, it pains me to write negatively about the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork. I am personally acquainted with many of the people who work there, from the CEO, Mike Williams, on down, to Board members, staff members and volunteers. I count some of them among my friends. I know for a fact that they are dedicated and hard-working people.
I’ve been NCTMB since 2000 and…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on August 11, 2012 at 9:04am — 2 Comments
It’s all about me, so here’s my wishlist for the profession. It’s difficult to place these in order of importance, because some of them depend on each other, and in my little corner of massage, they’re all important. It’s election time–aren’t we all just about sick of hearing about it–candidates mudslinging and making campaign promises? If I was the President of Massage Land, here’s what I’d do:
The Federation of State Massage Therapy…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on August 5, 2012 at 5:48am — No Comments
Nearly two years ago, the Tennessee Board of Massage Licensure voted to change its rule pertaining to the examinations approved for licensure of massage therapists. They chose to adopt the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Examination offered by FSMTB as the only approved exam – and sunset the use of the National Certification Examination for…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on July 11, 2012 at 1:43pm — No Comments
I spent last weekend in toasty Tucson, AZ at the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education annual meeting, and for the third year in a row since this organization started, it was one of the best things I have ever attended. There were quite a few new people attending this year, and attendance was up slightly from last year. The meeting was held at the El Conquistador resort, a beautiful venue with gorgeous mountain and desert views. I was late getting there and unfortunately missed the opening…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on June 11, 2012 at 1:55pm — No Comments
Earlier this week I received the ELAP (Entry-Level Analysis Project) Description from ABMP. I’ve been blogging about this for several weeks, first because I was upset that it was shrouded in secrecy; then last week because I finally got word of who is serving on this work group. While that information didn’t exactly smooth my ruffled feathers, I was gratified to see that I know some of the people working on it and know that they do the best job they can at whatever tasks they take on. And…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on June 2, 2012 at 7:31am — No Comments
Anne Williams of ABMP has confirmed to me today the members of the group that are working on the Entry-Level Analysis Project that I have been blogging about for the past few weeks. Since the secrecy surrounding this project has been my main complaint, about it, I will share that information here. The members are:
Cynthia Ribeiro, President of AMTA (National), educator, and school owner.
Tom Lochhaas, University-level educator, author, editor with 24 years experience in…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on May 25, 2012 at 6:13am — No Comments
I’ve been on vacation…I took a deliberate ten-day break from the Internet and from all the politics of massage while I was enjoying my annual sojourn in Ireland. I didn’t visit any Internet cafes. I didn’t read the paper and I didn’t watch the news. I left my cell phone at home, too. It was quite refreshing and restorative to be unplugged for that period of time, but now it’s back to the grind. From the look of things, it would seem that the powers that be are enforcing a news black-out as…
ContinueAdded by Laura Allen on May 22, 2012 at 4:17am — 1 Comment
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