Financial Report - August, 2005
By Jeffrey Doerner
As a small organization with ambitious goals, we have lean years when we put on a major conference like we did this year, with the Third International Family Conference in May in Gaithersburg. That production cost about $25,000 including our sponsorship of the accompanying Scientific Workshop.
We must rely even more on donors for support, and this year, the board challenged every family to do one fundraiser over the next year to support our dwindling Research Fund so we can continue making grants to scientists seeking a cure for NBIA.
Practically all of the association’s income comes from individual donations and fundraisers. As many of you know, all individual donations go to the General Fund unless specifically designated for the Research Fund, with a minimum $250 donation required to designate to research.
At the conference after discussion with the families, the board voted to allow individual contributions of $125 to also be designated for the Research Fund if submitted with an Employer’s Matching Gift form. (Be sure to check with your employer to see if they offer matching funds for charitable organizations.)
The board does not have the money at this time to award a research grant for 2005, but that could change, depending on how families respond to the challenge. The Research Fund’s income during the first half of this year was $4,100, and the balance is almost $17,000. The minimum amount needed in this Fund for a research grant is $35,000.
Last year, income for the Research Fund was $36,531, and one $35,000 research grant was made.
The board expressed concern about losing momentum with grants. Since the first grant in 2001, we have awarded seven research grants, totaling $245,000. I spoke with many of our researchers at the Scientific Workshop and learned just how important these grants are to the scientific community. We are definitely making an impact.
The BioBank Fund is part of our Research Fund because its purpose promotes research, but we keep the funds separate for accounting purposes. The BioBank, a collection of samples for researchers to access, was created with a $50,000 grant. We had expenses of $6,942 last year, plus expenses so far in 2005 of $6,942, leaving us with a balance of $36,117.
General Fund income for 2004 was $27,823 and expenses were $28,722, meaning that expenses were $900 more than our income. The fund’s year-end balance was $29,862.
General Fund income for the first half of this year has been about $23,000. Of that, about $14,000 came from individual donations, and about $9,000 from conference-related income (sponsorships, registrations and merchandise sales). Expenses have been about $25,000 including about $17,000 for the workshop and conference and about $3,400 for the newsletter.
The bottom line is, expenses ran almost $2,000 more than our income, leaving a balance of about $28,000.
For the second half of this year, I anticipate General Fund expenses to be more than $20,000 including $5,000 in additional conference-related bills, $8,000 for the newsletter, $3,000 for the Web site and $3,000 for operating expenses, which would eat up what we now have on hand.
Last year, the average contribution was $120 and half of those who donated to us gave amounts below $40. As you can see, it takes many small contributions to finance a $25,000 conference, but every contribution counts, no matter how large or how small. It is through these contributions, one by one, that we will be able to rebuild our General Fund and be able to hold the next Scientific Workshop and the next International Family Conference in two or three years.
