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<< back to the 2003 archive listing << Food Protection Trends COMMENTARY from the executive director “There is a lot to be excited about when looking at the Association
financial position” I can’t wait to tell you the fantastic news! Our financial audit was just completed and the results are quite exciting. We now have a positive fund balance for the first time since 1988. That is a period of more than 15 years since we have had the Association in the black. It has been a long process to achieve this goal, but the work is not over yet. It is far from over. Let me share the news now. This past year (our financial year ends on August 31), we had a net excess of revenue over our expense of just more than $90,000. This is the best result we have experienced in the 10 years that I have been with the Association. In comparison to the prior year when our expense exceeded revenue by a little more than $60,000, you can see why this is fantastic news! Not only did we erase last year’s loss, but also we now end the year with a positive fund balance. Added together, this accounts for over a $150,000 swing when the two years are taken together. If you are like me, I am asking what took place to help us have such a successful year? Here are some highlights. In 2002, we had a great Annual Meeting but as I had explained in a prior column, San Diego was an expensive location for us. In addition to cost differences (we made a number of efforts to reduce expense without reducing quality), our attendance was up, exhibitor participation at IAFP 2003 increased dramatically and sponsorship monies increased by about $33,000. Our Annual Meeting netted $95,000 more when comparing 2003 to our 2002 results. That is a huge portion of the $150,000, but allow me to point out some other components that lead to this successful, year-end result. For the year ending August 31, 2002, the Association investment account decreased in value by about $22,000. During the year ending August 31, 2003, we gained value in our investment account in the amount of $20,000 creating a $42,000 difference from one year to the next. Thank goodness the economy recovered to help us along to our record year! Another factor in our successful year is that we purposely looked to reduce our printing and postage costs for Membership communications, Membership invoicing and other printing and postage costs (including Annual Meeting related). It is not that we don’t want to communicate with you; it is just that there are much more cost effective ways to do this than to always print and mail a communication piece to our Members. You may have noticed a few more E-mails from IAFP over the past year. This, of course, is a cost-effective way to communicate with IAFP Members. We saved more than $20,000 in printing and postage costs in the year ending August 31, 2003! That is a lot of money in a budget that projects only $8,000 net revenue over expense! So, as you can see, there is a lot to be excited about when looking at the Association financial position! We continue to work on expense reductions to keep IAFP financially strong. This is forever our goal. I mentioned that we have a lot of work left to do on our financial position. It is recommended by the American Society of Association Executives (an association for associations) that associations should have a fund balance equal to one half of their operating budget. For IAFP that means that our General Fund balance should be at or above $850,000. Now in all truthfulness, I’m not sure that we can achieve that in my lifetime, but the goal is out there for us. We would have to net $80,000 each year for the next 10 years! We may not be able to net $80,000 each year, but I do think that we can add to the General Fund balance each year and have it growing in the right direction. That is an achievable goal. You know what they say; you CAN eat an elephant — one bite at a time! |