Treasurer’s Report for the Year 2007

James Bunton, Treasurer

The finances of IWMF are operated through two separate funds: the Research Fund and the Member Services Fund.  The assets for these funds are kept separately as are the accounting records.  The detailed financial statements are set out below.  For the sake of simplicity they are summarized as follows, with a comparison to last year, with amounts rounded to the nearest thousand.

Research Fund                                                                           2007                      2006

Contributions received                                                    $ 901,000             $     582,000

Interest earned                                                                     51,000                      42,000

                                                                                         952,000                    626,000

Research grants awarded                                                     38,000                 1,797,000

Increase or (decrease) in year                                          $914,000              $(1,171,000)

Contributions received during 2007 increased significantly over 2006 due to several large donations. Only one research grant was awarded in 2007 whereas in 2006 several where awarded amounting to $1,797,000 which was by far the largest amount ever awarded in one year.  The details of these research projects were reported to members during 2007 and 2008. The total awarded by IWMF to fund WM research since inception is over $3 million.

As a result of the large increase in contributions in 2007 and the reduction in grants awarded, the deficit at the end of the last year of $405,000 has been changed to a surplus of $509,000 at the end of 2007. As well, a number of members have pledged, either orally or in writing, to make contributions over the next three years which in total amount to approximately $529,000.

These are exciting times in WM research. The search for a cure is progressing quickly and IWMF is fully involved in it. If you have not already done so, please consider making a five year pledge for research funding. Remember that no operating costs are charged to the Research Fund so every dollar pledged to research goes to research.

Member Services Fund                                                             2007                      2006

Contributions received                                                     $390,000                  $368,000

Member services and operating costs                                 449,000                    342,000

Increase or (decrease) in year                                           $(59,000)                 $  26,000

Income in 2007 of $390,000 is an increase of $22,000 over 2006. However, expenses in 2007 amounted to $449,000 which is an increase of $107,000 over 2006. The result was a loss of $59,000 for the year 2007. A significant expense in 2007 was the issuance of three new booklets; Healthy Living, Medical Tests, and Immunology. Operating and fundraising expenses in 2007 were only 12% of our total income which means that 88% of all contributions went to help those with WM through member services or research towards ultimately finding a cure. This percentage compares favourably with other organizations similar to IWMF.

The assets in the fund at the end of 2007 amounted to $304,000 compared to $363,000 at the end of 2006.

If you have any questions on IWMF financial matters please do not hesitate to contact me directly at 416-621-7864 or jbunton@sympatico.ca.