• nancy-d

    Member
    August 12, 2022 at 10:24 pm

    We are in the enviable position of having reserves that cover 1o months of operating expenses available in what we call Board designated reserves. It is money invested that can be tapped in an emergency of any type with full Board approval. We also have a large endowment with significant funds that cannot be touched in perpetuity based on donor restrictions but that are invested and the interest and dividends are used for operations. The amount withdrawn is 4.5% of the average value of the assets on December 31 for the previous five years . Five year average fairly stabilizes the withdrawal amount and allows us to eventually eliminate a bad year for investments. About 50% of our revenue is government, 40% from investment income and 10% from foundations, individual giving and special events on an annual budget of $12.5 million. We are lucky to occasionally receive bequests. We do not budget for it but it is added to our Board designated reserves when we do get a bequest which is how we created and maintain the Board designated reserves.