Financial Report Highlights ROugh 2008 for USA Rugby

Tuesday Sep 29, 2009 in Off the Field USA Rugby

USA Rugby held a net deficit of $761,671 at the end of 2008, depleting the organization’s financial reserves by 84 percent in the process.

This all according to a draft of the report from independent auditors Johnson Knightlinger Graham & Co. of Boulder, Colo.

This deficit occurred despite a significant increase in income. USA Rugby’s revenue increased 20.5 percent over 2007 to just over $8 million. Expenses, however, increased also. High Performance costs rose 53 percent to $1.88 million. Marketing and Fundraising costs almost doubled to $1.47 million.

Events also hurt the bottom line, as revenue dropped 7 percent to $945,057 while events expenses rose 19 percent to $1.25 million, turning what was a relatively small $31,908 deficit into one almost ten times as large at $304,145.

Overall USA Rugby’s revenue was $8,026,854 and expenses were $8,672,707. That represented a shortfall of $645,853 in 2008. Add to that a net deficit of $115,818 the organization held at the beginning of the year, and USA Rugby began 2009 $761,671 in the red.

The organization liquidated $685,340 in investment assets (which serves as their reserve) to help cover that shortfall. USA Rugby’s cash reserves were depleted from $817,254 to $131,914, a drop of 84 percent.

USA Rugby also borrowed $70,000 on their line of credit to maintain cash flow. The organization ended 2008 with $82,137 cash on hand compared to $118,239 at the end of 2007 and $301,050 at the end of 2006.

USA Rugby’s main income sources remain Sponsors, Membership and Grants, although it’s worth noting that Sponsorship was for the first time in 2008 the largest income-producer, passing Membership ($2.7 million versus $2 million).

The numbers below also include data from the 2006 990 form filed with the IRS. Not all expense and income categories are the same as the auditor’s report, and where we cannot match things up, we left the box blank.

As for 2009, membership dues income will be up significantly. The drop for 2008 was due in part to the switchover to a September through August cycle. USA Rugby budgeted for $2.5 million in membership revenue in 2009 and will exceed that.