About > Annual Reports > 2000 > The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line

The VHS is in excellent financial condition. During the last decade, the VHS financial profile has changed considerably -- and for the better. In the early 1990s, for example, nearly 75 percent of our operating budget was funded by endowment. Since then, the market value of our endowment has nearly tripled to more than $30 million, but now it supports less than half of our operating budget because of significant increases in other sources of funding. During this period, our annual giving has jumped from less than $100,000 annually to $835,000 in 2000. Since 1990, earned income from admissions, shop sales, and other sources has grown from around $50,000 a year to more than $500,000. Membership dues, which represent more than 7,000 members in all fifty states, increased 3 percent over 1999. And the future is extremely bright thanks to the thoughtful planning of donors who have made deferred gifts. Through our planned giving program, we have secured about $35 million in known bequests and other deferred gifts to the VHS. A Planned Giving Advisory Committee has now been formed to pool the talents and expertise of several financial experts to advocate for and assist us in our efforts to solicit more such funds.

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