The 2015 990 tax return for Toastmasters International has been released. Total revenue was up 2.2%, but expenses were up 3.7%.  Total salaries were up 14.2%, but the number of employees is down from 179 to 175 (-2%).

Expenses and vendors

Payroll was by far the largest single expense, at $10.1M (up 12%).  Travel expenses are down, from $1,377K in 2014 to $1,180K in 2015.  $630K was spend on software, $467K on “new member charter kits”, $83K on “employee relations”, $76K on translations, and $10K was spent on “speakers”.

Expenditures on club-building and leadership training by world (not TM) region are interesting, it does cost significantly more to support members outside of North America.

• North America, $877K (down from $1.1M last year)
• East Asia/Pacific, $1.7M (down from $2.1M)
• Europe, $476K (down from $534K)
• Middle East/North Africa: $409K ($266K)
• Central America/Caribbean: $116K ($66K)
• Sub-Saharan Africa: $271K ($250K)
• South America: $6K ($4K)
• South Asia: $177 ($316K)

The five largest vendors for Toastmasters were:

• Asendia USA, $2.3M for shipping (up from $1.6M last year)
• Walsworth Print Group, $2.0M for printing and mailing (up from $1.7M last year)
• Caesars Entertainment, $739K for the 2015 convention (no convention vendor listed last year)
• Freeman Audio, $634K for convention audio/visual services (not listed last year, was $381K in 2013)
• Cornerstone OnDemand, $462K for learning management system (Pathways?, not listed last year)

16 more companies were paid at least $100K in 2015.

Employee compensation

Staff paid at least $100K must be reported, and they were:

• CEO Dan Rex, $479K total compensation, 21.0% increase
• COO Sally Newell-Cohn, $270K, 12.5% increase
• IT Director Hamidreza (Sam) Farajian, $265K, 23.3% increase
• Controller John Bond, $188K, 22.1% increase
• Member Support Director Darci Maenpa, $152K, 10.1% increase
• Marketing Communications Director William Nissim, $152K (not listed in 2014, new hire?)
• Employee Carol Gregory, $112K (not listed in 2014)
• Employee Margaret Yamamoto, $111K (not listed in 2014)
• PR Manager Suzanne Frey, $107K, 1.9% increase
• Employee Jennifer Quinn, $104K (not listed in 2014)
• Club Services Manager Kristen Rolapp, $111K, 1.8% increase

The CEO’s compensation was established using a compensation committee, the form 990 tax return from other organizations, a written employment contract, a compensation study or survey, and approval by the board or compensation committee (per the tax return, Schedule J).  (The tax form includes one other method for determining compensation which is not used by TI, an independent compensation consultant.)

Expenses did include paying for first-class or charter travel, travel for companions, and tax indemnification and gross-up payments (per the tax return), following a written reimbursement policy, and requiring substantiation of expenses.

Revenue and assets

Total program revenue was up by 1.8%, roughly congruent with membership growth, to a total of $32.4M.  The Toastmasters district conferences globally took in $4.7M in revenue (an average of about $13 per member).  The annual convention pulled in $1.2M (down from $1.4M in 2014).  Magazine advertising earned $20K (down from $31K in 2014).  For materials sold, the average profit margin was 12.6% (down from 14.1% in 2014).

Total assets shrank slightly, by 3.4%, to $49.0M, of which $41.6M is cash and investments, equal to 1.2 years of expenses (down slightly from 1.3 in 2014), in the range of the recommendation for non-profits to have 1-2 years of expenses saved up in reserves.  The land and building at WHQ is valued at a net of $5.5M.  Inventory has increased by 18.8%, to $874K.

Toastmasters International had to report on individual donors for the second year, it’s only required if someone gave $5K or more, and in 2015, Virginia Figg of New York City gave $10K.  Total donations were $22K, after hitting $67K in 2014 (including a single $50K gift), and $15K the year before.

Related organizations

Two organizations are identified as related, “Fifteen to Seventy LLC”, a real estate holding company in Colorado (100% owned by TI, a vehicle for buying the new office), and “Toastmasters International Singapore Ltd”, a publishing company (also controlled by TI).  (This schedule was not in previous tax returns.)

Click here for the full 2015 tax return.

2014 tax return analysis

2013 tax return analysis

2012 tax return analysis

2011 tax return analysis