Treasurer's Report

The Elements of the USATT Budget - Part II

(See Part I from last issue)

By Tong Lee

Running the day-to-day affairs of USATT together with pro-viding a bimonthly magazine for its members requires money. USATT needs an executive director to direct and execute the many functions of its headquarters. It also needs a supporting and paid cast for day-to-day functions: an accountant to take care of the books and to provide reports so that we can regularly monitor revenues and expenses and to make sound financial decisions; an editor to produce the magazine, and to produce the content for and maintain the web site; and an administrative coordinator, a program and marketing coordinator and a tournament and equipment coordinator to attend to the administrative duties and execute programs. Note also that what we now have is a bare-bone staff. The executive director has stated that he would like to hire a technical director to help him. Besides salaries for these, there are other headquarters’ expenses such as various taxes, health and liability insurance, auditor and legal expenses, office supplies, and utilities.

What is striking and should be of concern to all of us is the great disparity between the revenues from membership, advertising and ratings fees and the expenditures to service the membership. This is in spite of a group of volunteers chipping in to supplement the work of paid staff. Based on a budget of $1 million, in terms of dollars, I have indirectly stated in Part I that while membership, ratings and magazine/website advertisement revenue total $314,000, USATT spends $460,000 to staff an office and run the affairs of the association, to generate the ratings, to provide liability insurance for clubs and tournaments ($322,000), and to provide an on-time, well-received magazine and to maintain the website ($138,000).

The financial figures show that USATT is providing and giving back to the members more than what it receives in fees from them. If USATT were a small business in this state of affairs, it would have gone out of business already. That it is still surviving is simply because we have used funding from USOC and the USTTA Foundation, whose assets originated from USOC, to subsidize it. I compare USATT to a health or athletic club. If the membership fees of the health club could not pay for the maintenance and overhead expenses, the club could not be financially viable. It should not have to depend on the snack bar, childcare or other services to make a profit. Similarly, a primarily service organization such as USATT should not be subsidized with money from elsewhere. Everyone wants USATT to be run as a business. To do so, I believe that membership services should at least pay for its headquarters and magazine expenses. One could argue and ask, "Why not try to increase the number of members?" Of course, this should be done and it is being done, albeit slowly. But to do so requires investment of money and time (staff) that should but are not coming from membership fees.

How could USATT get out of this financial quagmire that has contributed to impeding the growth of the sport because there is little money to do anything? There must be a change in perception of both management and membership. Managements must run the Association like a business and do what the data suggest that should be done. It can also take a lesson from the national governing bodies of other Olympic sports. A check of web sites shows that among twenty-one NGBs, Table Tennis, Badminton and Triathlon charge the least - $30 – for one-year adult memberships. Five charge $35, three $40, one $47, five $50, one $50-$85, one $60, one $75, and one $70-$90. Yet, few have a magazine that is comparable to the USA Table Tennis Magazine. Politicians should stop complaining that the membership fee is too high, and stop criticizing decision makers when they raise fees. Finally, and most important, members who want the sport of table tennis to grow must accept the proposition that the sport cannot grow when it gives back to them more than what it receives from them. They must be a large number who are willing to pay a fair membership fee and who are willing to renew it when their membership expires.