2002 marked a tremendous year for INS. Taking our lead from President Roxanne Perucca's theme, A Commitment to Infusion Excellence, INS continued to develop and provide the educational resources that have made us the preeminent organization for infusion nurse professionals. From our educational meetings to our Standards of Practice and Policies and Procedures, INS was able to reach out to thousands of infusion professionals who look to us for specialized infusion information that they cannot get anywhere else. Our commitment to providing the resources our members and others involved in the specialty have come to expect is evident in everything we do.
We are pleased to report the following: In 2002, the organization collected revenues of $1,924,102 and disbursed $1,912,148 in expenses leaving an increase in net assets from operations of $11,954. Some of the highlights of the year include the following:
* Meetings revenue increased by 11% from 2001. The addition of the one-day educational program, Healthcare Worker Safety Issues in Infusion Therapy, that was held in conjunction with the NHIA Annual Conference in Las Vegas, plus a strong registration for the Fall National Academy in Miami were important factors in our meetings revenue increase. Our total meeting attendance for all 2002 meetings exceeded 2001's total by nearly 400 attendees. Each of the four meetings that were presented in 2002 saw an increase in attendance from 2001.
* Membership revenue remained consistent with 2001. For the second year in a row, the INS membership remained constant. In the challenging financial times that exist in today's healthcare market, this is quite an accomplishment. We are also proud of the fact that we again kept membership dues at $90. This marks the 6th consecutive year in which membership dues have not increased.
* Policies and Procedures for Infusion Nursing outpaced 2001 sales by 500 units. The continued success of the Policies and Procedures for Infusion Nursing, with 2000 copies sold in 2002 was instrumental in producing favorable revenue numbers for our publications department. The P&P was revised in 2002 and continues to be a perfect complement to Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice, which also sold 2000 copies last year. We continue our pricing structure policy of offering products at significant discounts to INS members.
* Strong financial controls resulted in a 3% decrease in overall expenses. We continue to monitor all of our expenses closely to keep them in line with our budgeted projections. We have been able to reduce much of our printing and production costs through our competitive bidding procedures. We were also able to take advantage of quantity discount purchases, which helped to lower per unit pricing significantly.
* Investments are well positioned for the future. The volatility that the stock market has exhibited over the past 2 years has had an impact on all of us and INS was not immune. Our portfolio yielded a negative 8.4% return on investments for the year. However, we fared much better than the Dow, which experienced a negative 17.7% return and the S&P which experienced a negative 25% return. As the economy begins to recover, as many analysts predict, we will be in a very favorable position with a combination of highly rated investments that we are confident will produce positive returns.
* INS continues its support of infusion certification. INS believes strongly in the importance of infusion certification. As such, we continued our support of INCC's mission of patient protection by offering financial assistance through a $120,000 grant.
In conclusion, an independent accounting firm audited the INS financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2002, and issued a clean opinion.