The SLAA has had a stable year in terms of membership, income and expenses. We are currently at 755 members of which 234 are students and 43 are international members. In comparison to 2003, we have had a slight decline in student memberships and a growth in regular members. Unfortunately, we no longer receive data on the number of separate subscribers to the JLAA and so are unable to predict budgetary data based on this source of income. It is our intent to request this data be made available as it is crucial to the question of future finances, an issue outlined below.

While this data is being prepared and submitted before final accounting for the year is available, I anticipate that we will have fewer expenses than normal due to the cancellation of the Annual Meeting. We were budgeted to spend $4350.00 in travel and meeting costs that will not be spent. This money will roll over into the 2005 annual budget. We originally projected an income of $23,535.00 and expenses of $20,991.00, leaving us with reserves of $2544.00. We are slightly under budget in both areas and anticipate an increased reserve of approximately $6800.00. As outlined in the Annual Report from Jean Rahier, Editor of the Journal of Latin American Anthropology, we are gearing up for the transition from independent journal production to the UC Press. This is an extremely expensive move and one that will not only drain all of our existing reserves but challenges us to locate new sources of revenue. Our current surplus of approximately $25,000.00 will be consumed by this new arrangement in 2005. We have not received projected figures for production costs and are currently unable to determine our future costs. We have been advised that we will need to substantially increase our membership fees or look to other resources in order to maintain the Society and the Journal. If in fact our expenses will double due to the movement of the Journal, then we must either double our membership or look for many more revenue sources.

We currently have three sources of income: membership fees ($20,000.00 +/-), independent journal subscription fees ($3400.00 +/-), and royalty income donated by the Whitefords that is used as travel grants ($1300.00 +/-). Small sums are received from the sale of our mailing list, purchases of back issues of the JLAA, and occasionally, royalty permission fees. Our current fee structure is:
Member $35.00
Student $20.00
International $20.00
Of the sections offering journals as part of their membership, we are in the mid range with fees ranging from $25.00 (Museum Anthropology) to $68.00 (Medical Anthropology Quarterly). In terms of student and international members, however, we are on the high end. A $5.00 increase in general membership would produce an annual revenue increase of $2250.00, while a $5.00 increase across the membership spectrum would produce $3750.00 in additional revenue. In 2003 we had approximately 130 library subscribers to the journal, data for 2004 in unavailable but has been requested. A library subscription increase is inevitable and is being determined by UC Press. It is unknown at this point how this increase in subscription fees will affect our revenue to expenses. However, if we increase our membership fees across the spectrum then we would still need to raise approximately $20,000.00 in additional fees. I hardly see this coming from an increase in library subscription costs (based on existing known numbers this would mean a minimum increase of $154.00 per library subscription). As Jean noted in the JLAA annual report, advertisers' fees should be an additional source of income but it does not appear to be one that we can anticipate in the immediate future.

In terms of other expenses, the Society has very few obligations aside from those of the Journal that have already been outlined in Jean's report. Non-Journal operating expenses include:

Joint Reception with ALLA $1000.00
Travel Grants (speakers) $2000.00*
Travel for International Board $2000.00*
Travel & Promotion for JLAA $2500.00**
Executive Board Luncheon $ 200.00
Miscellaneous Postage & Telephone $ 200.00
Storage $ 50.00

There are very few areas where we could cut costs without jeopardizing our international participation. It is extremely important that we help offset the costs of travel for our international guest speakers in the Conversations Across the Americas session, our international board members, and graduate student representatives.

It is recommended that we work more directly with the Controller of the AAA to determine our actual costs of journal production so that we may make more informed decisions as to our future. Our current reserves should be sufficient to cover the additional costs associated with the changes in the production of the Journal for 2005; however, additional sources of revenue must be located and implemented during 2005 to cover these increased expenses in 2006 and beyond.

Respectfully submitted,

Ramona L. Pérez, Ph.D.
Treasurer, Society for Latin American Anthropology

*Travel grants are calculated at 75% of the airline cost and do not include any per diem or hotel expenses.
** Travel costs are associated with participation by the JLAA editor at conferences in Latin America including LASA, the Caribbean scholars' conferences, etc., and are intended to promote the Journal. The budget includes promotional materials such as flyers, postcards, submission data, etc.