Increasing Attendance for WMU Chem Club
By Seth Byrne
President
Over the Fall term our Club has seen increasing attendance and retention of our members – we have consistently had at least 6 non-executive-board members show up at each of our biweekly meetings and that number has grown throughout the semester to where we had over 14 people, in addition to our executive board members, at one of our November gatherings.
Some of our activities this semester have included
·Carving pumpkins together in celebration of Halloween
·Having a game night where we played “musical” chairs with an iodine clock reaction and various other card games and
·Volunteering at Spring Valley Elementary School’s STEM fair for 3rd-5th graders
KACS Donations and Finances
By Doug Williams
KACS Treasurer
It’s that time of year when everyone is making a gift request, but I’m going to do this a little differently and more transparently. First, the pitch. Most of you know that KACS (like ACS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Like others, we gratefully accept donations that you may claim as tax-deductible on your federal income taxes. On our website, you will find instructions to donate to our Project SEED fund, but we also welcome donations to our general fund or for other specific purposes. These donations will benefit those who seek to improve their chemistry/career skills at all stages of life. If you choose to donate, please let us know if your employer will match it. THANKS!
Secondly, did you know that you can inspect our annual ACS financial reports? Yep, they are available on our KACS archives webpage along with many other historical files (newsletters, minutes, councilor reports). I assume that most of us are not interested in sifting through that much detail, so I hope that a summary will help. Please read to the end for an invitation.
Over the last six years, KACS has averaged about $20,000/yr in revenues and $17,000/yr in expenses (Figure 1), which has led to an increase of roughly $20,000 in total assets (Figure 2). However, this growth was uneven and driven primarily by the cancellation of our usual education, outreach, travel grant, and social programs in 2020-2021 during the COVID pandemic. The return of in-person programs in 2022-2023 increased our costs, including a net operating loss of $10,000 this year, which was mostly due to expansion of our Project SEED program from three to six students.
At current commitment levels, we are looking ahead to another deficit of about $7,000 in 2024 for five Project SEED students. We also plan to bring back our high school chemistry competitive scholarship exam in 2024 with an expense of about $3,000. Donations will be necessary for us to operate a balanced budget next year. We continue to enjoy stable funding from ACS national, local section member voluntary dues, and directed donations from companies like Zoetis and Pfizer for programs like the Bell’s Poster Event and high school teacher support, respectively. We are deeply grateful for these funds and the trust that our donors have in us to use them wisely.
KACS will end this year in excellent financial health with current total assets sufficient to cover about two years of anticipated annual expenses. Of course, we could continue to spend this down in 2024 to arrive at a more typical one-year operating reserve, but, as we look to the future, I welcome ideas for how we might better manage these assets to ensure stable funding of our local section priorities. If you have interest or experience in this area, I would love to hear from you. Best wishes to all for a joyous holiday season.
