Treasurer’s Comments, July 2005

For the past five years our expenses have just equaled our income. Our income has averaged $54,215/year while our expenses have averaged $52,394/year. Approximately 83% of our expenses are for publication of our journal. Those expenses include printing and mailing the journal, editorial costs, and conversion to electronic media. The remaining 17% are operating expenses of the Society such as insurance, membership database management, and membership mailings. Our income sources are primarily membership dues (63.2%), page charge collections (29.4%), and sales of back issues / reprints (6.0%). See the annual budgets below for specific information by year or category.

To remain on our path of financial stability we need to (1) keep our membership growing and (2) maintain or increase our rate of page charge collections. Each member can do their part! Encourage your colleagues, if they are not already members, to join our Society. There are many parts of the world that have few members represented. If you are an author, or intend to be an author, then budget for page charges. Although North American authors expect to be billed for these, it is uncommon in other parts of the world. The alternative to collecting page charges is to have higher membership rates. The Waterbird Society has opted to keep our membership rates affordable and to assess authors for page charges.

Christine M. Custer
Treasurer, Waterbird Society