The 2016 990 tax return for Toastmasters International has been released. Total revenue was down 1.7% (the second half of 2016, dues increased from $36 to $45), but expenses were up 7.9%. Total salaries were up 12% (35% of all expenses), and the number of employees is up from 175 to 198 (up 13%).
Expenses and vendors
Payroll was by far the largest single expense, at $12.9M (up 12%). Travel expenses are unchanged, from $1,180K in 2015 to $1,195K in 2016. $769K was spent on postage, $778K was spend on software, $416K on audio/visual, and $460K on “new member charter kits”.
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, $917K (up slightly from $877K last year)
- East Asia/Pacific, $1.9M (up from $1.7M)
- Europe, $681K (up from $476K)
- Middle East/North Africa: $361K ($409K)
- Central America/Caribbean: $68K ($116K)
- Sub-Saharan Africa: $309K ($271K)
- South America: $13K ($6K)
- South Asia: $149 ($177K)
The five largest vendors for Toastmasters were:
- Asendia USA, $1.9M for shipping (down from $2.3M last year)
- Walsworth Print Group, $1.7M for printing and mailing (down from $2.0M last year)
- Freeman Audio, $594K for convention audio/visual services (down from $634K last year)
- Confluent Development in Denver, $447K for property development (the new WHQ site, not listed lastyear)
- Andovar PTD LTD in Singapore, $430K for language translation (not listed last year)
26 more companies were paid at least $100K in 2016.
Employee compensation
Staff paid at least $100K must be reported, and they were:
- CEO Dan Rex, $401K salary (16.3% decrease) and $442K total compensation (14.5% decrease)
- IT Director Hamidreza (Sam) Farajian, $325K total comp, up 9.8%
- COO Sally Newell-Cohn, $318K, up 5.3%
- Controller John Bond, $247K, up 11.8%
- Member Support Director Darci Maenpa, $211K, up 17.9%
- Marketing Communications Director William Nissim, $177K, up 10.6%
- Employee Margaret Yamamoto, $145K, up 19.8%
- Employee Carol Gregory, $152K, up 16.0%
- Employee Heather Von Raesfeld, $148K (not listed in 2015)
- Employee Nader Hariri, $152K (not listed in 2015)
- Employee Jennifer Quinn, $139K, up 14.9%
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 (per the tax return), following a written reimbursement policy, and requiring substantiation of expenses.
Revenue and assets
Total program revenue was up by 6.8%, roughly congruent with membership growth, to a total of $34.6M. The Toastmasters district conferences globally took in $4.6M in revenue (an average of about $13 per member). The annual convention pulled in $1.3M (up from $1.2M in 2015). Magazine advertising earned $20K (unchanged). For materials sold, the profit margin was 18.2% (was 18.1% in 2015).
Total assets shrank slightly again, by 1.2%, to $48.4M, of which $20.8M is cash and investments, equal to 0.56 years of expenses (down sharply from 1.2 in 2015), below 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 $25.6M (with the Denver building purchase). Inventory has decreased by 1.3%, to $863K.
Toastmasters International must report on individual donors who gave $5K or more, and in 2016, Curtis Hellenbrand of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, gave $11,850 (someone with that name passed away in 2012). Total donations were $40K.
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)