Treasurer’s Report – David Carpenter

Financial Report for 2013

By David Carpenter

For the past several years, the IYNAUS Board of Directors has been attempting to improve the association’s financial performance. I am pleased to report that these efforts bore fruit in 2013. In addition to the fact that we realized a profit from the San Diego regional conference and convention, 2013 was the first year in some time in which revenues from our other activities exceeded the associated expenses. At the same time, our financial results in 2013 were influenced by events that cannot be counted on in future years, and the board of directors is now considering investing in new initiatives to promote Iyengar Yoga. Thus, while the 2013 results were gratifying, we will continue to pursue measures to increase our revenues, to be vigilant in controlling our other expenses, and to rely on our members’ generosity in donating time and other resources for IYNAUS’ programs.

Below is a table that summarizes IYNAUS’ revenues and expenses for each of the past four calendar years (for convenience, I have moved all revenues and expenses associated with the 2010 Portland convention, the 2011 Chicago regional conference, the 2012 Washington, D.C., regional conference, and the 2013 San Diego convention and regional conference to the year in which each event occurred). This table shows that 2013 was, comparatively speaking, a successful year financially.

REVENUES Unrestricted Revenue

Dues (less regions’ shares)

IYNAUS PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT

2010 2011 2012

85,825 72,650 84,920

Event revenues (including receivables) Store revenues less cost of goods (store sales at events are in parenthesis) Charitable contributions to IYNAUS Yoga Samachar advertising revenue 84,513 112,055 (70,000)

7,485 0 35,366 69,522 (3389)

4,750 0 -24,000 58,443 (6053)

1,720 0

Restricted Revenue

Certification mark (less payments to India)

Earmarked Revenue

Assessment fees and manual Bellur donations 22,600

48,895 23,726 16,580

47,985 7,658 16,785

46,850 4,290

TOTAL REVENUES

EXPENSES

Bellur donations Salaries and employment taxes Production expenses for Yoga Samachar Assessment expenses Legal fees Website design and maintenance IYNAUS board meeting travel expenses Bookkeeping Office supplies and expenses Merchant and bank fees (for store) Nonemployee insurance and taxes

TOTAL EXPENSES

NET REVENUE NET REVENUE—Exclusiding convention/regional conferences and store sales made at these events 385,099

23,726 79,864 24,044 48,108 12,358 46,659 10,304 12,750 7,487 27,212 7,054

299,566 85,533 -68,980 254,511

7,658 76,807 22,012 52,470 13,919 29,002 12,035 5,475 6,004 22,565 5,612

253,559 952

-37,803 189,008

4,290 64,531 25,516 54,559 17,631 25,929 10,532 4,853 5,981 15,429 2,434

231,685 -42,677 -24,720 2013

74,360 48,968 82,062 (7565)

1,550 4,000

16,743

63,784 26,717

314,184

26,717 69,817 24,242 63,818 0 21,082 12,413 1,550 11,499 17,696 3,896

248,730 65,454 8921

A major factor that contributed to last year’s success was the regional conference and national convention held in San Diego in May 2013. In addition to providing phenomenal experiences for all who attended, this event generated $48,968 in profits for IYNAUS (and some $19,070 for the San Diego region). Many of you no doubt recall that I provided a much lower estimate of IYNAUS’ profits from this event in my report six months ago. But that was a preliminary figure, which turned out to be inaccurate in a number of respects. The correct and final figure is $48,968. That said, there are no regional conferences scheduled in 2014 or 2015, and IYNAUS will not have another convention before 2016. Thus, it appears that it will be some time before IYNAUS realizes event revenues again.

For that reason, it is gratifying that IYNAUS also realized positive net revenues from all its other activities in 2013. For the first time in the past four years (and within anyone’s memory), the association had positive net revenues ($8,921) in a calendar year even excluding net revenues associated with events (i.e., event profits plus the store sales made at the events). Accordingly, last year was the first year in which we did not need event revenues to subsidize our other programs and activities.

Several factors contributed to last year’s exceptional results. First, IYNAUS store sales were strong in the last half of 2013 as a result of the demand for the Intermediate Course and some other exciting new books from India. Second, for the first time in many years, we incurred no legal fees or other related expenses in 2013, as we were able to arrange for pro bono advice and representation whenever legal issues arose. Third, Mary Reilly and the Certification Committee did a magnificent job managing the costs of our assessment program, with the total assessment fees virtually matching the total out-of-pocket costs of assessments. (And because of the generosity of assessors and studios, our assessment costs again consisted solely of travel expenses because assessors donate their time and studios host assessments rent-free). Finally, in a case of extreme financial conservatism, we elected not to fill a parttime clerical position on the IYNAUS staff in 2013. Fourth, last year, we began selling advertising in Yoga Samachar, and we realized $4,000 from these ads.

One curiosity about the results in 2013 is that we had lower dues revenues than in 2012. Because 2013 was a convention year, it should have been a peak year for membership. That said, it may be that there was no decline in membership last year and that the year-to-year fluctuations in dues revenues were caused by timing differences in dues payments (e.g., large numbers of members paying 2013 dues in 2012). In light of the financial success of 2013, the association’s balance sheet is also stronger today than it was six months ago. In the fall 2013 issue, I included our balance sheet as of October 2013. In the interest of conserving space (and in thus saving money!), I will not provide a complete balance sheet in this issue. But I can report that our “net worth” increased to $302,352.04 as of Feb. 28, 2014, and that our unrestricted cash (which is what is most important to me) increased to $137,185 as of that date.

While the developments of the past year were certainly welcome, we obviously cannot count on a continuation of all the factors that led to our positive financial results in 2013. For example, we have now decided to fill the clerical position that was vacant most of last year. In addition, our store sales can be expected to return to their historic levels when the initial demand for the recent publications from India is met, and it is entirely possible that we will have legal costs, increased assessment costs, and increased clerical costs in 2014 or future years. Apart from the inherent uncertainty surrounding the costs of our existing programs, the board is actively exploring new programs and additional steps to take to promote Iyengar Yoga, and some of these measures would entail significant additional expenditures. Thus, in addition to our ongoing efforts to minimize expenses, the board of directors will continue to examine ways to increase IYNAUS’ revenues.

In this latter regard, in both my column and Janet Lilly’s President’s Letter in the fall issue, we asked members who have the financial wherewithal to consider making charitable contributions to IYNAUS, stating that we would accept both unrestricted gifts for general support and gifts that would be restricted for use by Eric Small’s Archives Committee. Because the fall issue generally did not hit the streets until early 2014, there was no opportunity to make gifts last year. But I am pleased to report that $3,160 was contributed to the Archives project, and $750 was contributed to IYNAUS generally, in the first two months of 2014. This is a wonderful start, and we thank all of you who have contributed to these efforts. We have now added a “Donate Now” button on the IYNAUS website, which will facilitate future contributions.

In short, last year was a financial success. But this year brings new challenges, and we have work to do to continue our historic programs and more effectively promote Iyengar Yoga.

David Carpenter IYNAUS Treasure March 2014