ISBT Treasurer's Financial Summary
Summary
When looking at the results of the 2024 - 2025, it is clear the Society has bounced back from the COVID years. This is reflected in a growing membership, a fact not lost on the corporate world and on our corporate partners in particular. In addition, a strong result from our Barcelona congress, due in large part to significant sponsoring and exhibition, and record support from our corporate partners, have contributed to it reaching almost €1.5M euro total revenue.
Although not as significant as in recent years, inflation continues to be a challenge. Despite these pressures, the investments made in the past to update technology, both internally and in the way membership benefits are provided, have resulted in lower costs in many aspects of the Society’s operations.
The Society continues to invest strongly in sharing knowledge and improving the safety of blood transfusion worldwide by sponsoring the activities of working parties and providing individuals and organizations with financial support in the form of awards and prizes.
The overall result for 2024 - 2025, after tax, was €242k compared to a loss of €160K in 2023 – 2024, resulting in an increase of the accumulated surplus to over €2.3M.
Income
With lower than expected results from the two regional congresses in 2023 – 2024, we were nonetheless cautiously optimistic about the first international face-to-face congress since the pandemic. The Society devoted a great deal of time putting together a very good scientific program and heavily promoted the Barcelona congress. These efforts, combined with an excellent location and a general increase in the willingness to travel, led to a strong attendance from both participants and sponsors / exhibitors resulting in one of the Society’s most financially successful congresses.
The income from our corporate partners increased this year to €350k from €279k last year. From thirteen corporate partners during 2023-2024, the Society added two additional partners, including a platinum corporate partner.
The income from the royalties of Vox Sanguinis increased this year from €238k to €261k as open access revenue more than offset the decline in subscription revenue. The publishing landscape is changing rapidly, and we will continue to monitor this closely.
The Society’s membership income grew 13% over last year as it reaped the benefit of moving to a rolling membership period, which encouraged people to join throughout the year rather than during a limited window at the beginning of the financial year.
The Society was able to take advantage of a peak in interest rates at the beginning of the year by placing a substantial portion of its cash reserves in a long-term deposit.
Expenses
The Society’s most significant expense is personnel. For the last few years, the Society has performed all of its activities with an average of seven employees, including the Executive Director. The Society ensures compensation remains competitive in the non-profit sector while also keeping pace with inflation.
Cost control is a major focus of the Society. Investments in technology have allowed the Society to continue to invest in member services in the most cost-efficient manner possible.
Projects and activities
The contributions to the working parties increased to €57 k from €35 k and €22 k was invested in the I TRY IT programme. Awards and Prizes granted during the Barcelona congress were €35 k.
An important ISBT project is the development of the Blood Group Allele database. While development has been going on for many years, it is now nearing completion as reflected in the decrease in costs during 2024 – 2025. The web-based interface will become operational after final testing which we expect sometime during the first quarter of 2025 - 2026. We are confident this will be an important step forward for the ISBT community, researchers and doctors as well as for the industry that is making kits for red cell genotyping. With the database operational we will be actively seeking financial contributions from industry through sponsorship.
In line with our agreement with the Dutch tax authorities, tax expense for the year amounts to the Society’s taxable income at the statutory rate. The Society’s income liability on 31 March 2025 consists of the current year tax expense and the tax liability from the flex reserve of €6 k carried forward from last year. The flex reserve tax is not due until after 31 March 2027 and may be reduced by any losses incurred during the upcoming two financial years.
