My son, Ian, has reached that landmark age of 16 so I am in the process of adjusting my home budget for new auto expenses and trying to educate him about personal budgeting.
A man named A.A. Latimer once said, “A budget is a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.”
Ian is certainly suspicious about losing his allowance and finding a job to pay for car expenses.
It also is budget time at AAPG, and we reached a landmark this year – the first time AAPG’s budgeted total income and expenses are each in excess of $16 million. The budget is very realistic on expense projections and fairly aggressive on income projections.
AAPG’s budget is focused on 30 key programs including the BULLETIN, EXPLORER, Web site, field trips and the Hedberg research conferences. The key reason for the budget jump this year is the number of major new programs.
The greatest new expense areas in the past few years are related to the AAPG branch offices – GEO-DC in Washington, D.C., the AAPG European Office in London, U.K, and the new AAPG Middle East Office in Manama, Bahrain. All three offices are part of AAPG’s decentralization plan and are designed to be extensions of headquarters.
♦ The GEO-DC office has reached its full stride thanks to its current director, David Curtiss, and past-director Don Juckett. This office has functioned beyond expectations and has placed AAPG as a science information provider in government. As a result, the AAPG office is regularly asked to provide information and members for key committees making decisions on government funding.
The budget projection for the GEO-DC office is $300,000. The office is supported by the Association and an annual $60,000 grant from the DPA.
Although the GEO-DC office produces no direct revenue, it provides services in support of geoscience and energy education plus other programs that are important both for AAPG and the general public.
♦ AAPG’s European office is now fully staffed with Steve Veal as director, Lika Chambers as events manager and January Arnold as administrative assistant. The office is located in Imperial College, London, and this has allowed AAPG to develop a good relationship with students.
The office operated as a test case for the past year and one-half with the mission to build new relationships with sister societies and industry. Now the office is in “full swing” developing exploration luncheons, regular short courses and working on conferences developed by the European Region.
♦ AAPG’s Middle East office is developing with Abeer Al Zubaidi as new director working with a part-time administrative assistant. We are currently conducting a job search for an events manager.
The AAPG Middle East Office is located in Manama, Bahrain, in the office of Arabian Exhibition Management (AEM) – although Abeer also works from her home base in Dubai.
AEM operates the GEO-Bahrain Conference and Exhibition held on even years. AAPG is the secretariat in close cooperation with EAGE and SEG.
Both the AAPG European and Middle offices have aggressive goals this year in developing educational and research opportunities. Each office budget is approximately $300,000 in expenses, with one-third to one-half of that amount in projected revenue this first year.
Each office also is designed to be fully self-funded in two-three years.
Another new program in the budget is AAPG’s support of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC). Although AAPG does not “own” PTTC, its board has approved AAPG as its only member.
PTTC is budgeted to provide 70 to 80 upstream to downstream workshops each year – a technology transfer designed to support the oil and gas industry, especially small producers and consultants.
As the only member, AAPG has agreed to provide operational and financial support for a minimum of three years to build PTTC into a new entity. That support could be as much as $300,000 in the new budget.
Note that $300,000 seems to the expense price tag for most of these larger new projects!
AAPG programs are reviewed regularly using both strategic and financial criteria to determine which ones we need to continue, build-up or divest. This is an important part of our budgeting process.
The list of the 30 key AAPG programs is listed on AAPG’s Web site. A short explanation is attached with each program along with the expected budget for the new fiscal year.
Of course, there are other smaller programs that are included in the budget but are not large enough to be included in this list.
Thanks to the many ideas and energies of AAPG members and staff our list of services and products continues to grow. The budgeting process is taken very seriously to ensure all members receive the best value for their dues.
Thanks too, for your continued support.