After several years of large operating deficits, I am pleased to report that the Fellowship's financial house is now in order. Income is up and expenses are down. This is not intended to suggest that we can kick back and forget about raising money to fund our activities. Our recent efforts have substantially increased the number of smaller donors, but we are still dangerously dependent on too few large donors. 

Savings have come about through re-negotiating the interest rate on our headquarters' mortgage, and through reductions in salary expense. The human aspect of the latter was painful to us, in losing Mike Painter and Scott Forsythe. Nevertheless, we are now reasonably well adjusted to financial reality. 

The only major remaining source of operational savings is to find a less expensive headquarters. The Executive Committee has been considering this for some months now. Thinking on the subject has not matured, because only after we figure out the purposes for which we need the headquarters can we determine what sort of building we should acquire. For example, will Executive Committee meetings be held there as often as in the past, or will the XC try to move around more? Seminars like the Wrightwood series? What setting do we prefer? Marilyn Kulieke has been working on this issue, and probably will be giving a report on it. 

The Committee sent out a fund-raising solicitation last October, and we are in the process of sending out another one now, in line with our plan of making a spring and fall appeal each year. 

As a part of its current fund-raising letter, we are sending out a brochure describing various options for giving. Bequests are typically much larger items, and getting several of these (er, how to say it?) in the pipeline will enable the Fellowship to be much better funded in the future. 

We gratefully thank all those whose generosity makes our material existence possible! I also wish to thank our committee members Marta Elders, John Hay and Chuck Burton. Also, thanks to Melissa Wells and Lee Rector, who served for part of the year. 

Respectfully submitted,

Finance Committee

Harry McMullan, Chairman