ASERL Finance Committee Overview of Current Financial Status November 2009 John Ulmschneider, Jennifer Cargill, Connie Dowell, Susan Nutter, Nan Seamans, John Zenelis

Background Founded in 1956, ASERL existed for decades with little or no operating budget Traditionally, ASERL maintained approx $17K in Net Assets Today’s program fees (Kudzu, Lanter courier, etc) are a “wash” – costs are paid by participating libraries and not subsidized by ASERL dues

Background In December 2006, ASERL voted to increase dues from $3K/year to $4K/year to cover operating expenses and to build Net Assets Increased Net Assets intended as “agility fund”: enable ASERL to respond to opportunities and initiate activities requested by the membership ASERL’s Net Assets increased from $17K to $89K as of Sept 2009

Looking Ahead In October 2009, ASERL Board set aside $40K of current Net Assets into “reserve fund” to cover shut-down costs if ASERL ever ceased operations, leaving ≈$49K in available Net Assets Finance Cmte recommends replenishing Net Assets to $60K over time $60k target deemed sufficient for “agility fund” to allow ASERL to respond to opportunities that may arise

Financial status, November 2009 Current ASERL dues will fail to cover operating costs beginning program year Some increase in dues is needed to meet the Net Assets target of $60K No growth is membership is foreseen, so no expectation of additional revenue from new members. Membership may decrease if dues are set too high

Proposal dues are $4,000/library/year dues prop as $4,100/lib/year dues prop as $4,300/lib/year These increases would replenish ASERL’s Net Assets to $60K over two years and cover ongoing operating expenses. Dues beyond 2012 are difficult to forecast.