As you know, Esperanto League for North America (ELNA) now operates under the name dba (doing business as) Esperanto-USA. Esperanto-USA has also changed its fiscal year. In the past, the fiscal year was May 1 until the following April 30. Now we are using the calendar year beginning January 1 and ending December 31. So for this one year, there is a short year: May 1 – December 31, 2007.

Above is the “Statement of Fund Activity” for the short year May 1 – December 31, 2007.

This statement basically shows the investments we have with a broker for all the Esperanto-USA funds. As of December 31 the total balance in these funds (investments) was $359,373. You will note that there are three categories of funds: Unrestricted, (Temporarily) Restricted, and Interest-Only (Permanently Restricted).

Let’s begin with the Unrestricted Funds. These are funds established by the board of directors. At any time, the current board may decide to discontinue one of these funds. That is, basically, the definition of an unrestricted fund.

The general fund consists of those funds not actually in any of the other funds. If someone makes a contribution to the General Fund, a “Friend of Esperanto” donation, or without stipulating where the money is to be placed, it goes into the General Fund. So during this short year, a total of $4,492 was donated either directly to this Fund or simply to Esperanto-USA with no indication that the money should go to any particular fund. In addition, based on a formula of the interest/dividend income earned during the year (a net of $10,121 for the short year) a total of $4,797 was added to the General Fund. The transfers to and from this fund came from several of the other Unrestricted Funds. In a later article, those transfers will be explained.

The Expenses of $35,493 for the General Fund basically reflect a balancing of all the other activity in all the funds. Since donations were made but not necessarily actually sent to the investments, the different funds need to be increased, but there is no direct input of cash. That is shown by a reduction of the General Fund and an increase to the amount available for those other funds. That way you can be sure that when you make a donation to a specific fund, that money will indeed be available for that fund.

Occasionally, when the Central Office (CO) has some extra cash available, it will transfer some funds into this Investment Fund. Likewise, if the CO runs short on cash, it can transfer some money out of the investments. During this past short year, no such transfers were made to or from the CO.

The next article will explain some of the other Unrestricted Funds: how they were established, what are their purposes, and how they can be used, including any restrictions to their use.

Meanwhile, if you want to help Esperanto-USA in the work it does to promote Esperanto, a General Fund donation is very helpful! In this past year’s annual budget, approximately 7% of the total income was projected to go directly to this fund. Unfortunately, in actuality only about 5% of the total income came from such donations. To continue the operations of the CO, which includes the book service, Esperanto-USA needs your help. If you can make any donation (large or small) in addition to your dues, it will greatly help in our work to promote Esperanto and help people learn it.