Nonprofit

While the library has always been a nonprofit organization, the last year or so has been non-profitable for many across all business sectors. At a national meeting of insurance educators, it was revealed that most of the schools experienced a 20% or more drop in enrollment. This was attributed to employers being less willing or able to pay for education and employees, unsure if they will still have a job, not being willing to pay for the education and hope for reimbursement when they've completed it.

We have had several individuals and firms drop their memberships, despite how much more cost-effective it is to leverage the library's many subscriptions instead of having to subscribe to them separately. One member told us that they had not renewed their membership "for budgetary reasons, i.e. the evil geniuses / scoundrels of Wall Street negatively affected our business."

The library, too, has directly felt the effects of the market decline. We rely on memberships, class enrollments, and endowments to fund the provision of our services. Those endowments are invested and when the market dipped, so did our accounts.

Despite the poor economic atmosphere, the library still manages to provide services at the same level to our students, members and to the public. We have maintained a full course schedule, giving member discounts to those who are unemployed and maintaining the high standards for which we're known.

In the face of budget constraints, the library still maintains subscriptions to most of the leading insurance publications, and we've continued our commitment to preserving our historical collection (this is especially assisted by generous donors who support our adopt a book program and amazon wish list)

Consumers are more hesitant than ever when choosing an insurance company and the library is more than happy to help them through the maze of available information. When appropriate, we point them in the direction of the Division of Insurance, and The NAIC consumer information source (which provides consumer complaint information) to help them make insurer choices. We also assist them with Financial Stability Ratings so they can gauge what companies are likely to stay in business in the future and be financially able to pay claims.

This week we've had several new people and organizations join the library; twelve class sessions have met; and the stock market has improved. Clearly, this is all great news for the library, and we like to think bodes well for the economy in general. As an organization that has weathered The Great Depression and now what could be referred to as a Dysthymic Economy, we plan to stick around, no matter what the outlook, for quite some time.

On a completely separate note, we wanted to include one last picture from our big event --it's my personal favorite from all eight years, we hope you enjoy it too.