The Poynter Institute’s most recent filings with the Internal Revenue Service show that — hooray — it’s not losing as much money as it was the year before.
Poynter’s IRS Form 1099 for 2012, which went online Monday (h/t to Jim Romenesko), reports that the non-profit school for journalism went into the red to the tune of $1,747,581 for 2012. That’s down (or is it “up” when something isn’t losing as much as it was previously) from $3,815,144 in 2011.
Well done, Poynter Institute. Financially speaking, you are the Detroit of journalism schools — still losing money hand over fist, but not as fast as you were just a year or two ago.
The less-shitty financial outlook for the Poynter Institute is due mainly to a sizable increase in contributions and grants. In 2011, Poynter reported $1,472,891 in this department, but after hiring a foundation president whose responsibility it is to raise funds for the institute, Poynter raised $2,925,332 in contributions and grants. Much of that money went to pay just the three top officers at Poynter. Chairman Paul Tash, Treasurer Jana Jones, and President Karen Dunlap’s salaries totaled $1,058, 308 in 2012.
Pretty much the only way Poynter keeps its doors open is its substantial assets and reserves of $43,944,100, although, as Romensko notes, those have diminished significantly in the last decade. The jewel of the Poynter Institute’s assets is the near-waterfront four-acre campus it sits on, part of the near $14 million in land and buildings it holds. The property is currently for sale.
This is back of the envelope math, but assuming the Poynter Institute has to tap into its reserves for approximately $2 million every year, doesn’t this mean that the institute’s viable for only another twenty years or so? After all, the Tampa Bay Times, the newspaper owned by Poynter, can’t afford to finance its parent organization.
No wonder Poynter is no longer springing for five-star accommodations for its national advisory board.
