On May 15, during one of the semi-annual meetings of our Board of Governors, I reported on the financial condition of Flight Safety Foundation. The Foundation’s financial report draws a lot of attention because it speaks directly to the organization’s ability to meet its financial obligations and to carry on with its vital work of reducing risk in aviation.
Beginning in late 2011, as the 2012 budget was being constructed, we saw signs that our primary funding source — membership revenue — was beginning to decrease because of a fall-off in existing member renewals and a slowdown of new member sign-ups. Other factors included a decrease in attendance at our safety summits and an increase in operating costs tied to the development of a major new safety program and to some internal operating inefficiencies.
While the state of the world economy, which has at least an indirect impact on membership and conference attendance, is beyond our control, we…
