Thanks to the collective efforts of our board of directors, finance committee, volunteer leaders and NATA staff with diligent spending, and our strong reserve account, we have so far been able to weather the impact of the pandemic that devastated many industries, businesses and individuals around the world.
It’s hard to believe that we are still experiencing the pandemic’s impact as we meet here today. Our ability to continue advancing the profession, and the depth to which we are able to do it, is dependent upon the economy and a return to our previous revenue levels.
We need your help spreading NATA’s membership value message. The work being done and the value of your membership dollars is evident and communicated monthly in NATA News, in regular email communications like Member Monthly and Range of Motion and via our social media channels.
Please share the importance of membership with non-members in your network. A strong and thriving membership is how we’ll address the opportunities and challenges within our profession. Now let’s take a look at the numbers for twenty twenty-one.
A few months ago, in March, we completed our annual external audit for the period ending December thirty-first, twenty twenty-one. Our new audit firm said, and I quote: “this is one of the cleanest audits reviewed in a really long time –it was a pleasure." As in previous years, we received the highest level of assurance an auditor can give an organization.
Next I’d like to dive into the numbers a bit and ask you to take a look at this chart:
You’ll notice the dramatic impact of COVID-19 during our fiscal year ending June thirtieth, twenty twenty when compared to twenty nineteen – an almost four million dollar decrease to annual revenue. For the first time in the association’s history, we could not hold our largest in-person event - the NATA convention that was scheduled to take place in Atlanta in June twenty twenty. Your association was one of the first to pivot to a virtual event held in July twenty twenty.
Revenue from this virtual event is reflected in a short year period that ended December thirty-first, twenty twenty after the board approved a recommended change to the association’s accounting year end - from June thirtieth to December thirty-first - based on new accounting standards.
The losses shown in 2019 and 2020 relate to savings from prior years that were allocated to create a board-designated fund for board-approved strategic initiatives. Expenses in twenty nineteen and twenty-twenty included planned initiatives that were funded from those board-designated funds.
The pandemic’s impact on your association continued in twenty twenty-one when we again transitioned the in-person convention planned for Orlando to our second virtual convention. The event was successful and allowed us to offset operating expenses for the year. While the revenue numbers are moving in the right direction, they are still more than two million dollars less than our pre-COVID, twenty nineteen levels, hindering our ability to return to the same spending amounts and depth of work on executing strategic initiatives that advance the mission and continued growth of the profession.
Here is a pie chart showing the revenue breakdown for 2021. It shows that fifty-six percent of our revenue came from membership dues and nineteen percent from our virtual convention, underscoring the importance of strong membership numbers.
The impact of your support through membership dues, attending convention and purchasing educational content, can be seen in this breakdown of how those dollars were spent and how they aligned with our strategic plan pillars – forty-three percent Advocacy, thirty-eight percent Development and nineteen percent Engagement – in 2021. As you will hear later, we are excited to bring new measurements and data to you in the future with our new strategic plan, which we have been working on.
The majority of the total expenses were spent on advocating for the profession at both the federal and state levels. Staying up to date and influencing what’s happening in Washington, as well as in individual states, and making sure athletic trainers have a seat at tables to discuss health care topics, is crucial to the sustainability of the profession.
Since 2021 was a reporting year, it’s no surprise that development expenses accounted for thirty-eight percent of total expenses. We worked with subject matter experts to produce and offer quality, relevant content, with both live and virtual presentations throughout the year.
Engagement expenses made up nineteen percent of total expenses which may seem a bit less but we didn’t have our in-person convention in Orlando.
We continue to navigate these uncharted waters by remaining watchful of the progress of the pandemic and the economy, being mindful of keeping spending within the revenue we can earn while ever-evolving to meet our member’s growing needs.
Thank you for supporting our professional association and investing in our profession as a member of NATA. No matter where you are in your career, the setting you’re currently practicing in, or the setting you might move to in the future, NATA is home and WE are NATA. Without your ongoing membership and engagement, whether that engagement is in-person or virtual, NATA wouldn’t be able to bring the AT community together from around the world to network, learn about relevant topics, have access to the latest products via our AT Expo and support you in your athletic training journey.
We look forward to continuing the work on your behalf and on behalf of the profession. Thank you.