The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2023 73 AFSA REPORT consultant, ensuring that we are competitive as an employer. We have invested in technology that allows hybrid, remote participation in events and meetings. Two significant infrastructure projects were com- pleted during this term: the replacement of all windows at the AFSA headquarters building and the replacement of our aging HVAC system, to include high standards of filtering and clean air. We completely rewrote our investment policy to ensure compliance with all financial regulations and to maximize any possible return on investment of your member dues. A wideranging proposal for bylaw changes was presented to the entire membership for a vote during the 2023 election cycle, with an eye toward making AFSA’s operations more reflective of today’s working world and communication possibilities. As I wrote in the 2019 Governing Board term report: A lot of this work is behind the scenes and invisible to members, but this is what keeps AFSA a thriving, rele- vant, fiscally sound organization that manages to attract and retain excellent employees. Rest assured that we come to work every day to make sure that your interests are well represented. We believe that taking care of our employees is the best starting point to do so. As we prepare for the incoming board’s arrival, I want to thank outgoing board members for their service to AFSA and its membership. Without an engaged and informed Governing Board, we cannot do our work. Consider this a soft pitch to think about volunteering for the 2025-2027 board in two years! Finance A s with many investment portfolios over the last few years, the value of our assets declined significantly. We ended 2021 with assets valued at $33,798,574 and ended 2022 with a valuation of $30,711,750, a drop of 10 percent. We expect some recovery as the market drifts upward in fits and starts. The Finance Committee (consisting of the president, the executive director, the finance director, and the treasurer) reworked AFSA’s investment policy, which had not been updated in more than 20 years. The new policy takes a cautious approach to how we manage our money and ensures sufficient reserves to cover unexpected expenses and other contingencies. Despite the drop in asset value, AFSA remains in good financial health with operating reserves of $3.7 million. The AFSA Scholarship Fund, founded in 1924 to help Foreign Service families with university tuition for their children, now stands at $10.5 million, a growth of 3 per- cent over the past two years. We awarded $210,000 in needs-based scholarships and $115,500 in merit-based scholarships in 2022, and we expect to match or exceed that amount this year. The fund is self-sustaining, draw- ing no money from our general revenue and defraying the staff costs for administering the fund. The Fund for American Diplomacy, whose mission is to educate the American public on the role of the U.S. Foreign Service, has $297,643. Our Legal Defense Fund, which helps our members offset extraordinary legal expenses not fully covered by the Department of State, such as during the first impeachment hearings in 2019, has $327,125 remaining. Advertising remains AFSA’s second-largest source of revenue after member dues, and this period saw steady growth in this category. Total ad sales in 2019 were $295,726 but were up to $562,528 in 2022—an impres- sive upward trend. And, of course, sales of AFSA’s book, Inside a U.S. Embassy , continue to increase. Combined revenue from this effort in 2021, 2022, and the first quarter of 2023 was $70,000. We saw a decline during the pandemic in new AFSA membership from entering specialist and generalist classes, largely due to the absence of in-person brief- ings on the benefits of AFSA membership. We reversed this trend in 2022 and in the first quarter of 2023. In 2022 we showed an increase in retirement dues, thanks to the efforts of our excellent staff and the vice presi- dent for retirees. In 2022 our total operating expenses reached $6,516,322, a 7.2 percent increase over 2021, with an operating surplus of $47,202. We hope increased mem- bership will enhance revenue sufficiently to eliminate this operating deficit in 2023. The Finance Committee will review our first-quarter performance and, if neces- sary, suggest remedies to the incoming board. AFSA TERM