Date   : Sat, 19 Feb 1983 19:59:18 EST (Sat)
From   : Harold Carter (AFIT) <hcarter@brl.arpa>
Subject: re: PS

Jerry...

       Your question regarding where does conference money go is one I may
be able to handle in general.  In the IEEE, conferences usually generate more
money than expenses.  The excess funds are divided per apriori agreement
to the suborganizations to aid them in their continuing functions.  Member
ship dues come nowhere near providing all the funds needed to support the
IEEE in its many activities.  In fact, the IEEE struggles each year to break
even.  Thus, the money is put to good use.  As an example, the Design
Automation Technical Committee, of which I am the chairman, is a technical
committee responsible for all design automation activities within the IEEE
Computer society.  We sponsor two major conferences a year (the Design
Automation Conference, and the International Conference on Computer Design),
and about 5 workshops each year.  Excess funds from these conferences are
distributed to the Computer Society and the DATC to fund a yearly scholorship,
provide funds to set these conferences up, and pay for newsletter publishing
and distribution.

       This is a long-winded way to say that I suspect the IFIPs does pretty
much the same.  It takes money to run such an organization, and conferences 
are one way to obtain it.  By the way, the IEEE does *NOT* hold conferences
to make money!  But our conferences are typically attended better than our
(conservative) estimate.

                                       Hal