WCS Annual Report 2012 - Wildlife Conservation Society

Investment
Income
(9%)
Other Income
(3%)
Management
& General
(10%)
Fundraising
& Membership
(4%)
Memberships
(6%)
Gifts & Grants
(30%)
Visitor
Services
(12%)
Zoos &
Aquarium
(36%)
Global
Programs
(41%)
Gate & Exhibit
Admissions
(16%)
Federal Agencies
(14%)
City of
New York
(10%)
Visitor
Services
(8%)
Plant Renewal
Funding
(1%)
2012 operating
revenue
($223.3 million)
2012 operating
expenses and plant
renewal funding
($221.5 million)
30
wildlife conservation society Annual Report 2012
Investment income for operations totaled $19.3 million in
Fiscal Year 2012. Though little changed from the prior year, this
is $7 million less than in Fiscal Year 2009, when endowment and
investment support totaled nearly $26 million. WCS’s endowment
spending policy requires that the payout be reduced over time to
account for the 29 percent investment loss experienced during
the 2008 market crash.
WCS operating expenses reached $221.5 million in Fiscal
Year 2012, $13 million or 6 percent higher than the prior year.
Programmatic activity at our zoos and aquarium and our global
programs totaled just over $171 million. Half the growth came
from our global conservation and health programs, which reached
a new high of $89 million through a combination of restricted
gifts, grants, and contracts from individuals, foundations and
government sources.
Zoo and aquarium expenses also increased from the prior year
due to new hires that were grant-funded or essential to revenueraising
activities, and higher fringe-benefit and insurance expenses.
Like many other organizations, WCS is struggling with the
growing cost of benefits like health and workers’ compensation
insurance, which are contributing to expense increases.
Selected investments were made in fundraising and other support
services in Fiscal Year 2012, but management also continued
cost reduction measures with further programmatic management
consolidations. Management and fundraising expenses make up
a lean 14 percent of our expenditure base. This past year, WCS
launched a five-year effort to replace most of WCS’s stand-alone
financial and administrative systems. When this project is complete,
the entire organization will function on a single platform
managed at WCS’s New York headquarters. We believe that this
investment will create significant efficiencies and savings, provide
better business intelligence, and foster organizational integration.
Capital expenditures totaled $25.1 million in Fiscal Year
2012. Of the 125 active capital projects, eight accounted for
$21 million, or 84 percent of total expenditures. At the Bronx
Zoo, large projects included the next phase of the CV Starr Science
Campus: the LaMattina Wildlife Ambassador Center and a new
isolation-quarantine unit at the Wildlife Health Center. In Coney
Island, WCS continued to invest in the development of the expansion
for the New York Aquarium with its new Ocean Wonders:
Sharks! exhibit. Additionally, there were several improvements at
the Central Park Zoo, most notably a new penguin exhibit cooling
system. New York City continues to be our most generous
funding partner for exhibit and other physical plant needs.
Turning to WCS’s balance sheet, total assets were $798.3 million,
up slightly from $796.6 million at the end of the prior fiscal year.
WCS enjoys a high degree of liquidity, with operating cash and
cash equivalents totaling $67 million on June 30, 2012. At the
end of Fiscal Year 2012, the market value of WCS’s investment
portfolio was $381.4 million, down $26.8 million from the prior
year ($408.3 million). The decrease resulted from the addition
of $3.2 million in gifts offset by negative investment returns and
budgeted endowment spending transfers to operations, in accordance
with WCS’s endowment spending policy.