The Financial Health of Our Organizations: NCBTMB

This is the second year that I have written a series on the financial status of the non-profit organizations associated with the massage therapy profession. I am not an accountant or a financial expert. All the information in my blogs on this subject is available for public viewing www.guidestar.org, which is a clearinghouse of information on non-profit organizations.

There’s good news, and there’s bad news. The bad news is that like some of our other non-profit organizations, the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork has taken a substantial financial hit during the past reporting year. In this particular instance, it can’t be blamed entirely on the recession; the MBLEx has taken a big chunk of change out of the exam revenues of the NCBTMB–over one million dollars in the past year alone.

Income from the sale of the mailing list decreased by over $30,000, which may also be indicative of the financial status of other businesses and organizations who have previously purchased the list. There’s always a trickle-down effect during a recession.

The good news is that recertification revenues actually rose by over $187,000; it’s good to know that I’m not the only one who values my National Certification enough to keep it up.

I also have to applaud the NCB for the way they have cut expenses. Their belt-tightening is nothing short of impressive. When revenues go down, expenses should go down (albeit not at the expense of customer service), and apparently not all our organizations get that concept, as I have pointed out on a previous blog or two. I think the general public relates well to that…when you earn less money, you have to spend less money.