Re: [Tccc] Could the NSF be legally entitled to a huge refund from the IEEE?

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Hi, Virgilio, et al.,

Some points to keep in mind:

The NSF is only one organization that supports attendees to IEEE
meetings. Others include other US gov't funding (DOE, NIST, DARPA,
etc.), non-US gov't, as well as industrial support - either of faculty,
or of their own researchers directly. It is not accurate to claim that
"much" of IEEE resources are from any single source such as the NSF.

The IEEE operates as a US non-profit. As such, surpluses in a given year
are eventually used in other ways. In addition, they are already closely
monitored by the IRS (US govt tax organization).

Claiming that any IEEE is "more expensive than it should be" is a claim
that has not yet been validated. I will be sending another post on this
topic shortly.

As noted, the surplus reported is quite small for a given year (10% of
revenue), and there are years that run deficits. This is the result of
unpredictable attendance and variations in costs.

Finally, the surplus reported is for the IEEE - not the Comsoc. So
evaluating Comsoc fees and drawing a conclusion about the IEEE as a
whole doesn't follow. The IEEE runs many types of conferences - some
primarily for research, others for industry. The IEEE also runs a fairly
large and complex standards organization. Some of the "conference"
revenues seen at the IEEE level could be the result of standards-focused
conferences used to support standards activities.

Overall, let's please try not to jump to conclusions. I have been
working with the Comsoc to determine where costs are and how to reduce
them. This may result in reduced conference services, however - we can't
complain about the cost and enjoy a fully-staffed registration desk with
multiple queues, receptions with buffet lines that rival banquets,
plated banquets for 2-day, 80-person meetings, or loss-based student
registration rates.

Please try to keep this all in mind as we proceed.

Joe

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