(The total looks negative but it includes a $15K item, which is carried forward from FY 04, so, with that, it just balances.)

Times are still tight for us financially, ever since the technology recession and downturn in conference attendance. We are trying to keep our most important programs in place but not planning major new expenses or initiatives until our finances turn around.

Budget Details

As you can see from the budget listing, our annual SIGCHI budget (excluding conferences) is approximately $360K. The biggest income item is dues, and the biggest expense is interactions magazine, which we send to each member. This part of budget has been fairly stable and in balance.

But we also sponsor about $2M of conferences each year (most of that amount is the CHI conference). That part of the budget is inherently unstable, because we have to commit many conference expenses several years before we know what the corresponding income will be. While conference attendance was growing, this meant that we had a string of unbudgeted surpluses from our conferences. Now, while it is declining, we have had a series of unbudgeted losses. Conferences are now beginning to break even, caused both by the economy improving and by our cutting back sharply on conference expenses. Next year's budget shows a small surplus from conferences (the ACM conference fiscal year is such that CHI 2004 appears in our FY 05 budget, so this surplus is based on CHI 2004, for which most of the data are known).

Because of the ups and downs in conferences, ACM requires us to maintain a reserve fund balance to insure against these. During the good years, we built that balance up to over $2M. That large balance served its purpose during the last few years of conference losses, which could otherwise have bankrupted us. The balance is low now, below ACM's required amount, so we no longer have this cushion, and we must operate more frugally for now. We will be applying any surpluses from conferences toward building our fund balance back up, so it can continue to provide insurance against future conference downturns. In short, we have weathered a severe downturn and emerged fully solvent, but times will be tight for the near future.

SIGCHI FY 2005 BUDGET

CONFERENCE SURPLUS/DEFICIT

CHI conference	92,372
ACM allocation	-77,990
Other conferences	100,720
ACM allocation	-77,086
Total conference surplus/deficit	38,016

INCOME

SIG dues	186,865
Non member subscriptions	3,200
SIG non member subscriptions	17,935
Digital library	80,643
Other subscription income	4,484
Proceedings sales	10,425
Interest income	6,696
Expedited service	993
Total Income	311,241

EXPENSES

Interactions	107,500
SIGCHI Bulletin	3,000
ACM and SIG Board allocations	75,841
Chair / EC	67,940
VC Communications	2,500
VC Conferences / CMC	27,000
VC Operations	6,020
VC Publications / Pubs Board	51,908
VC Local SIGS	22,500
Total Expenses	364,209

FUND BALANCE

Annual surplus/deficit	14,951
Fund balance start FY 05	304,363
Projected fund balance end FY 05	289,411
Fund balance required by ACM	512,149