Supporting services (Part Two) reflect the administrative and overhead costs of running the organization. We’ll cover Part One first. Estimates and Allocations First, we should mention that certain costs have been al- located among the programs and supporting services ben- efited. These expenses are allocated on the basis of time and effort. As these numbers and explanations are discussed, read- ers should consider the old proverb, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” In other words, unless you are intimately familiar with the contextual details, on the surface, some of these numbers and allocations may appear to be strange or even confusing. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at Program services in Part One. Program Services – Part One – Statements of Functional Expenses As we look at the numbers for each primary expense category outlined in our Part One table, we’ll offer a few comments which, hopefully, will be informative for our members. Readers may wish to print out the tables in Part One/Two so that you can refer directly to the numbers as you read the commentary. Membership Services (the first vertical column in Part One) Salaries, Taxes and Benefits obviously relate to staff expenses, while Membership relates to new member and renewal packet contents and other costs. Member Premiums relates to items pur- chased by members, such as logo shirts, books, etc. sold through the ALOA store. Legislative support is our legal effort to influ- ence relevant industry legislation. Office expense (as you would expect) includes such costs as office supplies, internet and phone services, computer and soſtware support, etc. Bank fees is largely bank processing costs for dues and other member payments paid by credit card. Depreciation is a non-cash expense representing write down of our assets (including capitalized building improve- ments), as required by the IRS. This one appears in almost every category and, accordingly, will not be repeated. ALOA Convention Salaries, Taxes and Benefits, Event, Office, Staff Development and Depreciation are allocations related to our ALOA conven- tion event. Staff development covers travel to, and site inspec- tion of, convention venues and does not warrant a separate (dif- ferent) line-item category. Although forced to withdraw from the event, we did incur some promotional and other expense primarily prior to cancellation. WWW.ALOA.ORG SAFETECH Convention These expense categories and allocations are similar to the ALOA Convention category. Although forced to withdraw from the event, we did incur some promotional and other expense prior to cancellation. Security Leaders We had very little activity here because we were forced to with- draw from this event but incurred some promotional expense primarily prior to cancellation. Education Salaries, Taxes and Benefits, Event, Office, Staff Development and Depreciation are allocations related to our classes and ALOA convention event. Owing to the repetitive character of these expense categories, at this juncture, the nature of these expenses should be clear. Keynotes Magazine Salaries, Taxes and Benefits are self-evident expenses. Publi- cation is the largest category because it includes layout, edit- ing, author compensation, printing, mailing and also costs associated with the digital editions. Producing a world-class, award-winning magazine is expensive, but members place a high value on this publication and some members have col- lected these issues for decades. Keep in mind that ALOA mem- bers have access to at least a decade of past issues (in digital form at ALOA.org) that can be printed on your printer, either partially or in their entirety, on demand. Safe & Vault Technology (S&V) Magazine Expenses incurred in generating ALOA’s Safe & Vault Technol- ogy, a world-class, award-winning magazine, are very similar to the explanations and comments covered under the previ- ous Keynotes magazine paragraph. However, only members of ALOA’s SAVTA division have access to the S&V magazine. Total Program services (as listed in the Part One table) The Total Program services numbers column is the sum of the numbers listed in the various columns, for each line-item cat- egory. Thus, we can see the composition of what are referred to by our auditors as Program services. Remember, these are the expenses allocated to delivering benefits to our members. Probably the most important observation to be made here is that a whopping 81% of all expenses were allocated to Program services, or in other words, providing such services to members. As opined by our independent auditors, this is a very respectable SEPTEMBER 2021 KEYNOTES 17
