2025 Financials:
For 2025, we budgeted income of $99,870, and expenses of $99,700. Historically, the Class had done an excellent job of living within its means (see Budget trendline). Expenses are controlled to align with Income, and the Executive Committee reviews our financials every month. However, in 2025 our income fell short, ending at $86,895, and expenses were higher than budgeted at $103,929, resulting in a net operating loss of $17,034. The good news is that thanks to the support of our members on an ongoing basis, and particularly with respect to our Fuel The Flash 2030 fundraiser, we have over $550,000 in our investment accounts. The Finance Committee (comprised of Mike Huffman, Ned Roseberry, Ian Jones, Laura Jeffers and me) meet regularly to ensure we have the required liquidity to meet expenses - both ordinary and as investments are required, such as Boat Grant boats – and that we are maximizing our assets with acceptable levels of risk.
Membership continues to be one of our biggest challenges with respect to Income, and accounts for just over 60% of total our annual Operating Income. North American Skipper memberships were down 6% vs prior year; Associate memberships down 6%, and Crew memberships down 1%. Short term, we hope to recruit LOYALS to make effective contact and progress with expired members. Longer term, many of the investments that will be enabled by Fuel The Flash 2030 initiatives should have a positive impact across all groups.
Other areas that factored into the 2025 results:
- Merchandise revenue was down, and expenses were up. Some of this is timing – we saw good sales at the 2026 Midwinter (Helly Hansen) regatta. Be sure to check the website for new merchandise!
- Office Support: Carly Starck has been doing a fabulous job with our social media presence, and is really reaching our U32 crowd and beyond! We think this is a solid investment in attracting/retaining membership.
- Credit Card fees: The significant increase in donations also led to higher-than-budgeted credit card fees. We are attempting to negotiate lower fees, as well as allocate the expenses against the funds that receive the donations, rather than against Operations.
The ILCA Constitution requires that every year an annual budget be prepared and published “in the next issue of Lightning Flashes” (Article XII, section 1[c]). To this end, our 2026 Budget is included at the end for everyone’s perusal.
Fundraising:
I’m sure you are all aware of our fundraising campaign Fuel The Flash 2030, which I co-chair with Bob Shapiro. We had an excellent second half of 2025, and have raised $385K of our $800K goal, with some additional pledges for 2026 and beyond. We have a $50K Super Match Challenge currently underway, and will be announcing more events soon.
While it’s great to raise a bunch of money, it’s what we do with it, and how we improve the Class, that is our true measure of success. Accountability to our members is paramount to that success. We have developed goals/success criteria for each of the Focus Areas, and will continue to share progress in each.
LOYALS:
Our Legions Of Young-at-heart Active Lightning Sailors (LOYALS) continue to work hard to engage the membership and help provide resources to the Class Office and Executive Committee for priority projects. The G.O.T.-Flashes Challenge is one such initiative that was a solid success in 2025, and will be even better in 2026. A new custom app was created by member John Ring, and it has already received rave reviews from those attending the Midwinter Championships. Check it out at GOT-Flashes and just Get Out There!
Interested in joining our legions? Just drop me an email (bertie.werley@gmail.com) and you can be part of our robust team!
2026 BUDGET:
