Report from the Treasurer

At the December meeting of the APS Board of Director there was a lengthy discussion of budget planning. APS had met the goal set three years ago of attaining a membership of 15,000, and the December meeting seemed like a good time to take a long look ahead.

APS member dues comprise more than half of the Society’s income. Other major sources include grant and contracts; convention registration, exhibitor booths, and program advertising; Observer advertising; Psychological Science and Current Directions subscriptions and royalties; and mailing Iist rentals. As there are still many psychologist and thousands of students who share our goals but who are not yet members, the Board authorized a stepped up recruiting drive for 1994. We hope to pass 16,000 this year and to continue climbing.

Bigger and Better

Such growth would enhance the impact of the Society upon psychology, give us increased clout in our efforts to advocate on behalf of and support psychological science, add to the amount of dues revenue, and increase our ability to attract useful advertising.

The Board also encouraged APS staff to continue to develop and expand funds from other sources. Grants and contracts, for example, have more than doubled since 1991, and more are expected. They have helped support major efforts such as the Human Capital Initiative, the Accreditation Summit, and a conference to be held later this year on meta-analysis sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation. Income from Observer ads did not grow as much as had been hoped over the last two years, given the extensive retrenching on the part of universities, and the consequent lack of faculty recruitment ads. We expect modest improvement this year, however.

Facing Reality

The Board recognized that some costs would grow inevitably, just as the reduction of postal subsidies to nonprofit organizations has added to our expense. Employee cost­of-living increases are to be expected, especially in Washington, where the federal government set the competitive climate. The Board agreed that APS should continue to maintain a lean (but nice) structure, continue to operate efficiently, and continue to hold down the costs of boards and committees. In fact, the latter item comprises a mere 1.3 percent of expenses in the 1994 budget. This is due in part to the fact that boards and committees travel as little as possible, conduct some meetings by conference calls, and rely heavily on email for routine communication.

Dues Increase Slowly

Inevitably, dues increases would be necessary, as was true this year when they went up $3. Rather than adopt a biennial or triennial system of large dues increases, the Board authorized small increases to offset the routine increase in the cost of doing business. Anything beyond these cost-of-doing-business increases would have to be justified by some major new effort, such as the creation of a new journal.

As Treasurer, this kind of guidance was helpful in preparing the 1994 budget. The budget is lean, but it provides the support needed for vital APS activities: the Human Capital Initiative, the new Teaching Institute to be held in conjunction with the annual convention in Washington in July, the convention itself, the publication of the Observer, Psychological Science, Current Directions, a new membership directory, the Student Caucus, and our excellent staff in Washington who do many of these things while furthering the APS agenda.

We are in good financial shape, and our computerized accounting system informs us daily where every penny is corning from and going to. The guidelines established by the Board will help us ensure our continued financial health.