WPA finance forecast 2004
Authors: Sam Tyano
Journal: World Psychiatry (2004)

The financial policy of a world organization changes according to circumstances, to the general world economic situation, to the needs of its members, to the general policy decided by its executive committee and to the hierarchy of priorities decided by its general assembly.

The main role of the WPA Secretary for Finance is to propose new resources to fund the activities of the Association, applying the policy dictated by the Executive Committee, following the advice provided by the Board, and taking into account the needs of the Member Societies, the WPA Committees, the Secretariat and the Executive Committee members.

The regular sources of income of the WPA budget are the membership dues, the World Congresses, other international and regional congresses, royalties from publications, and the 15% overhead taken from each educational program budget.

The standard expenses of the WPA are those related to the Secretariat (including salaries and office expenses), those related to the Executive Committee (meetings and assignments), the support to Zonal Representatives and Standing and Operational Committees, the maintenance of the Educational Coordination Center, and the expenses for public relation materials.

The first portion of the income is represented by the membership dues. The WPA policy has been to adjust dues according to the economic situation of each country. Although it is apparent that certain Member Societies can afford to pay more, while others struggle to pay the current fee, the problem of equity is difficult to resolve. In addition, there is a shift in worldwide economic situation every 2-3 years. The total amount of fees, as of today, constitutes 25% of the income and barely covers the salaries of the Secretariat staff.

The most constant and steady income of the WPA is that represented by royalties from publications. Due to the very intensive and significant activity of the Secretary for Publications, the number of books published by the WPA is increasing every year. Many members of the WPA worldwide also receive World Psychiatry, the official journal of the Association, directly to their postal addresses, free of charge.

Another extremely significant source of income during the past eight years has been the overhead of each educational program. According to the Finance Committee decision, approved by the General Assembly, this overhead recently increased to 15%. However, the number of programs has decreased during the past few years and the only remaining one is the Global Child Mental Health Program. Therefore, the charges from the educational programs, used to cover various expenses, are sorely lacking.

One of the main resources of any international association is obviously represented by meetings, conferences and congresses. The last two World Congresses did not meet financial expectations based on technical grounds. Here is one of the primary vital confrontations between substantial needs and ideological and political considerations. In essence, it is very easy to attract numerous people to participate at inviting tourist sites throughout the world. Alternatively, it should be of top priority to bring WPA activities to all corners of the world, allowing each Member Society to meet with WPA scientific, educational and policy makers, while simultaneously exposing its own viewpoints, presenting its country's mental health infrastructure and demonstrating the way the specific culture has integrated modern mental health concepts while conserving its basic beliefs, roots and cultural institutions.

The discussion on where future congresses and conferences should be held is open and continuing. The destination must be attractive and secure enough for people, inviting to the pharmaceutical industry and, simultaneously, maintain equity from a financial perspective. This resource is imperative and the utmost must be done to maintain its flow. One way of doing so, that is already being implemented, is the Corporate Supporters Sponsorship Program. The basic concept, which is the essence of the project, is to obtain enough cash flow between two World Congresses to maintain WPA activities and, in addition, to assure that the WPA will receive its own portion from the World Congress budget. The host of the World Congress also benefits, as the amount of money paid by the industry is given enough time in advance to ensure the necessary preparations for the event.

One of our major concerns is of course to establish the priorities of our Association, which should be reflected by the policy of distributing the resources. Each topic seems important and each activity has its priority in the eyes of the one who proposes it, but this priority is not necessarily agreed upon by other people. This discrepancy creates sometimes some involuntary misunderstandings.

Finances are not the factor which determines the values which will be defended by our Association, but certainly play a role in the determination of the quality and the amount of investment in each activity. I invite all Member Societies to take part in this discussion. All their comments will be brought and discussed in the Finance Committee and presented to the Executive Committee. My role is just to implement the Executive Committee financial decisions and to try to accommodate them to the financial situation of the Association. I hope that in the future we will be able to find more resources, in order to enlarge the educational, scientific and training programs, side by side with being able to offer the well-known feeling of getting back at least as much as we have invested.