1999 Treasurer’s Report for Bay Area Mass Spectrometry

There is both good and bad news as BAMS ends 1999. The good news is that BAMS was extremely active this past year—we held nine meetings (including two joint meetings with other societies) and have 23 corporate, 73 individual, and a handful of student members. The bad news is that BAMS had a net loss of $1053.51. Despite this loss, BAMS remains a healthy organization with a net worth of $12409.62 ($6429.87 in savings and $5979.75 in checking accounts).

A detailed cost analysis is shown below:
 
Item
Total Expense in Dollars

(% of all expenses)
Total Revenue in Dollars

(% of all revenues)
Dinner Costs
14868.37 (89%)
  
Dinner Revenues  
9465 (61%)
Board Meetings
462.48 (3%)
  
Newsletters
503.49 (3%)
  
Website
350.00 (2%)
  
Misc.
576.17 (3%)
  
Corporate Dues  
4600 (30%)
Individual Dues  
1460 (9%)
TOTAL
16578.51
15525.00
NET LOSS
1053.51
  

 

Note that, while ~90% of our expenses were associated with dinner meetings, only ~60% of our revenues were generated by dinner charges. In fact, the average net loss per dinner meeting was $580 [average net loss = (total dinner revenues minus total dinner costs)/ 9 meetings)]. By comparison, the average net loss per dinner meeting in 1998 was $560; however, in 1998, BAMS hosted only five meetings. Simplistically viewed, BAMS continues to lose money on dinner meetings and… the more meetings, the greater the losses.

Clearly, we need to minimize costs such that we operate on a "break-even" level. To achieve this goal, several policies were adopted at our December 1999 Board Meeting. They include:

    1. An overhead projector was purchased recently so that we can save rental fees.
    2. No wine will be served at future BAMS dinners.
    3. At BAMS dinners, non-members will pay $10 more per meal than BAMS members; students will continue to pay $15/meal.
    4. Printed newletters will be discontinued.
These policies, along with plans to find less expensive dinner locations, should help BAMS minimize financial losses.

Lastly, I would like to thank both our corporte sponsors and individual members for their financial support of BAMS during the past year. It is your support that has been responsible for the success of BAMS as an organization and has allowed us to maintain the high quality of our meetings.

Respectfully submitted,

Carolyn Koester

1999 BAMS Treasurer