AVMA reports financial windfall

SCHAUMBURG, ILL. — American Veterinary Medical Association Treasurer Dr. Bret Marsh expects the group's income over expenses to exceed $1.5 million for 2007, far surpassing the $61,000 originally anticipated.

While final figures are not in, Marsh points to unexpected advertising revenue from the group's two journals — up more than $4 million during the last fiscal year — and investment earnings that totaled $1.8 million as reasons for the growth.

"It was quite a year," says Marsh, who addressed the AVMA House of Delegates Winter Session last month in Schaumburg, Ill.

With an annual budget of $28.8 million, Marsh projects 2008's income over expenses to clear $118,000.

Membership also is up, he reports. The AVMA's 76,000-plus members, representing 85 percent of the U.S. profession, pay more than $16 million in dues annually. That represents 60 percent of AVMA's income, Marsh says.