Establishment of Checking Account
A business checking account under the name "American Fisheries Society Meeting" was established at Wachovia Bank more than 2 years before the meeting. The account was opened with an initial deposit of $5,000, and 300 business checks were ordered. The total number of checks written was approximately 110.

Credit Card Acquisition
Concurrent with the establishment of a checking account, we applied for and received a Wachovia Bank Card (Visa) with a credit limit of $2,500. We were granted an increase to $6,500 a few months before the meeting. Although charges on the credit card throughout the entire meeting barely topped $2,000, the usefulness of credit became apparent when it came time to reserve services.

Sales Tax Exempt Status
The NC Chapter did not have sales tax exempt status before the meeting. We received this exemption after discussions with the NC Department of Revenue and AFS. One outcome was a modification of our Chapter bylaws to specifically outline our function as a non-profit organization. This process took the better part of a year to accomplish. Although we are now tax exempt, we were still required to pay all sales tax up front and then file for a refund. Sales tax spent during the 1999 meeting will be filed during the fall of 1999, with payment not coming until spring 2000.

Credit Card Processing
More than half of the attendees at the Charlotte meeting paid registration fees by credit card machinery (2 computerized card readers and 2 printers) was purchased at the 1998 Hartford Meeting. Before we could begin receiving credit card payments we had to insure funds would be transferred to our Wachovia checking account, and not Hartford. Supposedly, this was a quick and easy process that required the following:

• a change in the "doing business as" (DBA) name from "AFS 1998 Annual Meeting" to "AFS 1999 Annual Meeting".
• a change in the billing address and contact person
• and most importantly a change in the checking account numbers

To add to the irony, the September 1999 statement containing the bulk of our credit card transactions was sent to the old Hartford address. This was after they had sent 3 straight statements to North Carolina! Not surprisingly, I HIGHLY recommend some other provider be used for credit card processing services at future meetings Once details with the service provider were established, we had to have the terminals reprogrammed with the new information. I mistakenly thought that the terminals and Help Desk were also serviced by NDPS. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case, as the credit card terminals were serviced by Global Payment Systems (GPS) out of Los Angeles. Once the account changes were sent to GPS, the terminals were reprogrammed through a simple download process. We received exceptional service from the employees at Global Payment System. It should be noted that the terminals required a dedicated, touch-tone line to function properly. The phone lines into our processing office were digital lines set up on a hunt group, so a separate line had to be installed. All credit card equipment (including account numbers, operation manuals, etc.) will be forwarded to Missouri by the end of 1999.

Credit Card Fees & Discount Rates
A discount rate of 2.98% was debited from every credit card transaction. Due to an even higher fee charged when using an American Express card, only MasterCard and Visa were accepted. Miscellaneous monthly processing fees ranging from $19-$400 also showed up on our statements. We had budgeted $7500 to cover discount rates and fees with actual expenditures totaling $5,579.98.

Establishment of Master Account with Adams Mark
Because the NC/SC Chapters had not previously sponsored a meeting of this magnitude in the past, we had to rely on credit references provided by AFS Bethesda to establish a hotel account. A master account was set up at the Adams Mark with Betsy Fritz as the contact, and the Carolina Chapters were then given a separate account to use for meeting expenses. This worked well, although there was confusion regarding billing of certain banquet functions.

General Budget Information
A proposed budget of $355,500 for the 1999 Charlotte meeting was authorized at the 1998 Governing Board meeting in Hartford, Connecticut. Although all statements have not been reconciled at this time, final budget figures will approximate $353,400. Because the budget was prepared 13 months before the actual meeting, subcommittee chairs included a 16% contingency factor within their specific budgets (10% inflation and 6% sales tax). In order to keep registration fees below the $275 limit imposed by the Governing Board, the contingency line item remained conspicuously low throughout the meeting. Prior meeting summary reports recommended a 10% contingency be added to the overall budget. Our contingency started at just <3%, and was reduced to <1% one month before the meeting. We were hopeful sales tax refunds would offset this meager contingency if we found ourselves in a bind. Income designated as Parent Society Fund Raising ($55,000) and Trade Show Social ($10,000) was not received from AFS Bethesda. Because expenditures never exceeded our available balance we did not request these monies be sent. Although final fund raising figures from AFS Bethesda were not available, it was estimated that these 2 sources of income would offset the $63,900 remittance agreed upon in the authorized budget. With this in mind, final remittance to AFS Bethesda after the 1999 Charlotte meeting was approximately $100,000, with only ~$40,000 coming directly out of the meeting account. Sales tax refund monies will provide additional revenue, and will be sent to AFS Bethesda once they are received.

Be aware that Trade Show exhibitors are given 2 complimentary registrations per booth. We had mistakenly believed that the $10,000 designated as Trade Show Social income would help fund the social, when in reality it offsets registration costs for the exhibitors.

Honoraria paid to the plenary speakers was never agreed upon. Establish a policy before the meeting to avoid confusion. All budget calculations were made using Microsoft Excel 6.0. A laptop computer was extremely handy during the actual meeting to track income and expenditures. Locate the nearest bank branch before the meeting begins, and devise a secure method of depositing daily funds. The security deposit box obtained from the hotel was a very useful and convenient way of storing funds until they could be deposited.

Budget Overruns
Each subcommittee chair did a remarkable job of estimating expenditures and then "fine-tuning" their figures after continual nagging from the Finance committee. The Accommodations committee was faced with limited space at the Adams Mark, and had to obtain additional room at the Four Points Sheraton adjacent to the meeting at a cost of $4300. We had been told Audiovisual costs would always exceed the budgeted amount, so we compensated for this, and true to form we were $4,000 over budget on A/V. The overall Printing and Signs budget was similar to that projected, but costs for signs and banners was almost twice that budgeted. Breakfast costs were originally not figured into the authorized budget, and we estimated we would need to find $18,000 to cover this expenditure. Total breakfast and other miscellaneous banquet events totalled $17,000. Thanks to savings experienced during other social activities, the overall social budget was still >$10,000 under budget. Fisheries Insert and AFS Travel breakdowns were not available from AFS Bethesda, so the maximum budgeted amount was assumed for each. For a line item breakdown of each subcommittee’s expenditures see the following worksheet.

Memorandum To:     Executive Committee AFS
                                   North Carolina AFS Chapter
                                   South Carolina AFS Chapter
From:                         Mr. Kim Baker, Chair 1999 AFS Raffle / Auction Committee

Subject: 1999 AFS Raffle / Auction Report

The 1999 fundraising campaign started shortly after the 1998 AFS meeting in Hartford. From that time approximately 200 businesses, organizations, individuals, AFS Divisions, Sections, and Chapters were contacted. From these efforts donations were received from 97 different sources: 30 businesses, 20 individuals, 19 AFS Chapters, 13 organizations, 11 AFS Sections and 3 AFS divisions. Many thanks goes out to all of these supporters and potential future supporters. I would also like to recognize Mr. Jim Rice with the North Carolina Chapter AFS and Mr. Jim Bulak with the South Carolina Chapter AFS for there assistance in making these contacts. Thanks to Mr. Dave Coughlan for review and audit of my accounting.

I truly hope that everyone who participated in this years fundraiser enjoyed the event, the prizes, the comradeship and takes some satisfaction in knowing they helped support the AFS Skinner Memorial Fund and the North and South Carolina AFS Chapters.

If there are any questions or more detailed information is needed please feel free to contact me. A summary of total revenues and expenses is as follows:
 

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