USPSA 21/22 financials

[GJM]

https://uspsa.org/documents/minutes/20230828%202022%20Financial%20Statements.pdf

[RJ]

Thanks, very interesting. Not a USPSA member, not an accountant, but interested in thoughts of those that might be (both).

Page 3, Assets, looks like went down $800k year on year, 21 to 22. Does that reflect the economy, in general, perhaps?

Page 4, Support and Revenue seems to be driven by a quarter Million in losses from "Investment Return" in 22. I think a lot of us lost investment in 2022, no?

Page 5, Expenses: Match expenses were up $200K, similar to travel, which increased by 1/3. Curious what "Misc" was and why it dropped 70k. Advertising almost doubled, which seems weird.

Page 6, a loss of 1/3 of your cash and cash equivalent year on year ($500k) doesn't seem like a good result, really. Maybe this had to go to cover the Expenses.

Page 8 shows a significant change in investment strategy, between CDs and domestic equity mutuals in '21 over to heavily into bond mutual funds. Given the significant loss in assets on page 3, looks like this was not a brilliant move?

[DMF13]

Page 8 shows a significant change in investment strategy, between CDs and domestic equity mutuals in '21 over to heavily into bond mutual funds. Given the significant loss in assets on page 3, looks like this was not a brilliant move?
109200"Not brilliant," is too kind.

It was dumb, and even a little bit of actual study in investing could have avoided this. Maybe they could have followed the guidance from Buffett, Bogle, etc.

[JCS]

It's easy to complain. So I won't without further information. But I would really like to know how they are spending over 10% of the income on travel expenses.

[MVS]

https://youtu.be/fycn3bjJdLk?si=puFEm63SR2T6hTsC

Obviously he has an axe to grind, but still.

[DMF13]

Glad I watched to the end. I actually came to the same conclusion as Stoeger about a life membership. I had considered doing it for a while, and the planned dues increase was pushing me that way, but . . . now that the latest financial data is out I have concerns over whether the organization can survive financially, and like Stoeger I think drop more money into the organization now is "rewarding bad behavior."

I have one more year left on three year plan, and will switch back to annual, when it's time to renew.

[MVS]

Glad I watched to the end. I actually came to the same conclusion as Stoeger about a life membership. I had considered doing it for a while, and the planned dues increase was pushing me that way, but . . . now that the latest financial data is out I have concerns over whether the organization can survive financially, and like Stoeger I think drop more money into the organization now is "rewarding bad behavior."

I have one more year left on three year plan, and will switch back to annual, when it's time to renew.

With the big increase, their shenanigans, and the fact that I mostly shoot IDPA now, I don't think I am going to renew at all. A local club has dropped USPSA and is going to try that PCSL and I might give that a go

[MVS]

Accidental double tap.

[JCN]

Glad I watched to the end. I actually came to the same conclusion as Stoeger about a life membership. I had considered doing it for a while, and the planned dues increase was pushing me that way, but . . . now that the latest financial data is out I have concerns over whether the organization can survive financially, and like Stoeger I think drop more money into the organization now is "rewarding bad behavior."

I have one more year left on three year plan, and will switch back to annual, when it's time to renew.

I think of it the other way.

Will they last another 10 years? Probably.

Is it rewarding bad behavior? I’m leaning no because they rolled back their price increase on the lifetime membership. So I am rewarding GOOD behavior in them letting us know that life will be more expensive later.

Plus, who knows how much more the annual will cost if they need more cash?

The organization has enough nationwide infrastructure that it won’t go belly up. It could cut out the magazine or all nationals for a year.

Plus USPSA could get absorbed back into worldwide IPSC so I think it’ll be around in some fashion for 10 years.

[CleverNickname]

The organization has enough nationwide infrastructure that it won’t go belly up. It could cut out the magazine or all nationals for a year.

Posting from mobile so it's hard to check but I thought the magazine is a net gain from advertising? Also the org is required to hold at least one nationals. They could still combine some so there's not five and save money though.

[JCN]

Posting from mobile so it's hard to check but I thought the magazine is a net gain from advertising? Also the org is required to hold at least one nationals. They could still combine some so there's not five and save money though.

I think it's hard to know exactly. Without a further breakdown and some speculation it's hard to know.

We have this:

109247

and this:

109248

The unknowns are:

If you just went to digital Front Sight magazine, how much of the advertising revenue would shrink? It probably won't go to zero.

And how much of the "Printing / Postage / Mailing" is due to Front Sight? I'm guessing the bulk of it, but there are still other printed USPSA materials that probably need to be done. I'm kind of suspecting that the $262k is the Front Sight cost.



Even if Front Sight advertising income dropped to $100k in an all digital format, it seems like you could cut out a lot of printing and mailing cost.

Or have people opt in to the paper magazine rather than opt out.

I'm just spitballing. I kind of like the paper magazine myself, but wouldn't cry if it went away. Most of the younger generation probably aren't as enamored with paper magazines as we are, though.

[GJM]

Posting from mobile so it's hard to check but I thought the magazine is a net gain from advertising? Also the org is required to hold at least one nationals. They could still combine some so there's not five and save money though.

I have zero issues with the organization losing money on nationals, as these matches directly benefit the members. Much rather spend money on nationals than board member travel, legal fees and election costs.

[CleverNickname]

I have zero issues with the organization losing money on nationals, as these matches directly benefit the members. Much rather spend money on nationals than board member travel, legal fees and election costs.
I agree. I was just saying that completely eliminating national matches isn't an option.

[DDTSGM]

Just reading through this thread, not a member anymore. The admin costs jumped out at me so I looked some of the salaries up:

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/911325053

[Zincwarrior]

Ok. Crap financial performance.

But.

I have to pay a small amount annually to play USPSA matches. I like USPSA matches enough to pay (paid today). If that changes I won't.
I care not a whit more than that.