SDPA President's Report 2023 Powerpoint Presentation

Editor's Notes

1. At the end of 2022, SDPA had approximately $68,000 in cash. At the beginning of the 2023 year, SDPA performed needed renovation in its office suite. Approximately $4,500 of old furniture and equipment was retired. There was approximately $2,500 in tenant improvements made (painting, etc.). About $2,700 of new furniture was acquired.
2. During 2023, SDPA received $92,000 in member dues and spent $61,000 in administrative overhead. The Association took in about $40,000 in income from programs and spent $$85,000 for programs for a net expenditure on programs of $45,000. During 2023, SDPA in general spent $15,000 more than it took in. It is important in understanding SDPA finances to not focus too much on the bottom line for the reason that dues renewal period income can vary greatly in when it comes in, during the first part of the renewal period or the last. This can cause income to bunch up in a given year so that in some years there is lower and higher total dues that is not representative of the overall dues.
3. SDPA member count varies during the year. The count is at its lowest immediately following close of the renewal period in March and is at its peak right before the renewal period begins October 1. It is approximately at it’s midpoint in June. We are near the end of our renewal period and as of today have 466 members. This count is low for us, however, we are engaging in heavy marketing courtesy of our wonderful sponsor AToN. Also, this year we have acquired contact info for an additional 1,200 psychologists in San Diego County who were not previously in our system. We aim to have in excess of 600 members by the end of June 2024. New Board member Ken Dellefield, Ph.D. is heading up our membership effort this year.
4. The SDPA dues renewal runs from 10/1 – 3/31. The amount of dues collected during recent renewal periods is presented. With seven weeks left in our renewal period we have $81,500 that is consistent with the last couple of years. We were disappointed that the increae in dues rates in 2022 did not produce higher revenues as fewer people renewed.
5. Administrative overhead has been increasing over time and this has been of concern. We lost our Office Manager of many years Tami Magaro in November of 2022. Our overhead was lower in 2023 because we were without an Office Manager for almost eight months (until the end of July of 2023). We now have a wonderful new Office Manager Diana Garza. With the new Office Manager full time we budgeted about $82K in administrative expense for 2024. We are paying the new Office Manager the same rate as the former, however, we are trying to keep the new Office Manager’s hours to 20-24 per week depending on whether there are events occurring. The prior Office Manager had been working around 30 hours per week.
6. Net program expense is monies spent on programs offset by income produced by programs. Typically, SDPA expects to take in around $100K in income. That money is typically spent on administrative costs in the range of $75-80K leaving $20-25K for net program expenses. During the first year of COVID, there were far fewer programs produced in-person so net program expense was much lower and this left increased cash. This excess cash was spent on programs in 2021 so that the net program expense in that year was much higher than was typical. Net program expense was higher than targeted in 2022 largely due to high venue costs for the two CE events that year and fewer exhibitors for those events than targeted. Net program expense in 2023 was higher than targeted due to lower registrations and higher venue costs for the major events. Moving forward, we need to identify themes for CE events that will attract more participants, solicit a greater number of exhibitors for these events and, in general, find more cost effective venues for all the major events.
7. SDPA generally maintains between $100,000 and $150,000 in cash depending upon the time of the year. Due to the reasons previously discussed, cash is significantly down compared to prior years..
8. So, to summarize, in 2023 membership dues were lower than expected, administrative expenses were lower (but due to no Office Manager for seven months), net program expense was higher and as a result, our cash is now much lower than is typical.
9. Our mission statement is the rock and foundation from which we stand. Inclusive, not exclusive.
10. So…the plan for 2024: 1.) Increase membership. We now have a new Board member Dr. Ken Dellefield, Ph.D. who is very motivated and is currently forming a new Membership Committee. They have already met once and have been brainstorming a wide range of ideas to help increase our membership. We have a recent membership sponsor in AToN, a residential treatment facility, who is financially supporting our membership drive. They have helped sponsor our recent membership drive donating $2000.00 for 2 mailings of postcard fliers. 1200 were sent out to colleagues who were not previously in our system! We are partnering with the San Diego psychiatric society for an upcoming meet and greet event to hopefully solicit more members there. We are collaborating with Alliant CSPP, the Chicago school and hopefully UCSD to create joint events for students and get students involved in poster presentations and potentially student membership or early career professionals.
11. The events committee is exploring what kind of fundraising events we could produce. The silent auction at the gala alone generated approximately $2000. We have done a thorough review of our expenses and have become more mindful of reducing costs for workshops and conferences and the gala. We found a very cost-effective venue for the spring conference. 3. The board has recently approved to invest cash in higher interest bearing instruments. These are CDs that are providing us better interest rates then we had before 4. We need to be aware that the type of corporation we are does not allow for tax deductible donations. People are certainly willing and able to donate things to us, but they cannot write it off for tax purposes. Increase administrative income by better selling our services as APA sponsor 5. We are exploring more broad-based themes for CE events to increase participation. We are currently soliciting ideas for the fall conference 6. Our new office manager has done an incredible job at Increasing exhibitor participation in CE events. This began last year and is going to continue this year.
12. Lower administrative expense by keeping Office Manager hours and other staffing costs in line. One way to achieve lowering administrative expenses is by recruiting more volunteers, particularly for events. We have had a diminished presence on social media and are following the leads of APA and CPA and other similar organizations to put more visibility into social media online. We are hoping that this will help boost attendance at our events as well as encourage more members to join SDPA when they see the degree of value that they receive by being a member. 3. We are working hard at decrease venue costs for this year’s events, either by using less expensive hotels or reconsidering other hotel costs, like food expenses. 4. We have learned a lot regarding how to put on events, conferences, and the gala. We are working on reducing our overall expenses and increasing the income generated by these events.