Treasurer’s Report - 2025
The Society of Rheology (SOR) remains in strong financial health, supported by significant reserves, a well-regarded brand, and a committed membership base. This report provides an overview of the Society’s financial activities and how they are managed across various accounts, including those held at the American Institute of Physics (AIP), AIP Publishing (AIPP), Charles Schwab, and QuickBooks Online. Each section of this report is organized by major activities that support the Society’s mission.
Assets of the Society of Rheology
A historical summary of SOR’s assets from 2015 through 2025 is presented in Figure 1. As of the past fiscal year, total assets have grown to over $2.6 million.
Figure 1. Society of Rheology Assets from 2015-2025.
The AIP account holds funds derived primarily from membership dues and revenue from the Journal of Rheology (JOR). Our publishing partnership with AIP includes a guaranteed annual payment of $120,000 and a share of additional revenue from JOR. These funds are sufficient to support the Society’s routine operations.
The Schwab reserve account is intended for emergency expenditures and is invested primarily in low-risk, fixed-income assets such as certificates of deposit (CDs). In 2024, this account achieved a cumulative return of 4.5%, which is reported as interest income on the balance sheet.
In 2018, SOR established a separate Schwab investment account for long-term equity investments to further support the Society’s mission. An initial investment of $225,000 in an index fund has grown to $313,000 by the end of 2024. Despite market volatility in the current fiscal year, the fund’s value remains strong, with a balance of approximately $330,000 as of May 2025. The remainder of the investment account is held in CDs with yields ranging from 4% to 5%, contributing to a total 2024 return of 7.2%.
Prepaid expenses are categorized as assets and reflect funds already committed to future activities, including the annual meeting.
A balance sheet summarizing the total liabilities and net assets is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Balance Sheet for SOR from 2020-2025
Summary of Revenue versus Expenses
For fiscal year 2024, the Society of Rheology (SOR) closed with a net revenue of $63,528 (see Table 2). It is important to note that this figure includes $75,449 in unrealized gains from the SOR Schwab investment accounts.
Table 2. Summary of SOR 2024 Net Revenue
Revenues of Society of Rheology
Realized revenue sources for SOR are summarized in Figure 2. The majority of SOR’s income continues to be derived from publication of the Journal of Rheology (JOR), which remained stable over the past year. Due to favorable interest rates, interest income was significantly higher than in previous years. Membership dues constitute another revenue stream, although they have declined slightly relative to prior years. AIP provided venture funds to support educational activities related to rheology.These are flow through fund and supplemented with SOR funds.
Figure 2. Revenue sources for SOR from 2015-2024.
A significant contributor to the overall financial balance in 2024 was the Annual Meeting, summarized in Table 3. In keeping with historical accounting practices, the net outcome of the Annual Meeting is reported within the revenue section. Although the meeting attracted approximately 500 attendees, revenue from registrations, short courses, and generous sponsorships (thank you!) from Anton Paar, TA Instruments, and AIP, did not fully offset the costs associated with the venue, catering, audiovisual services, and meeting logistics.
As part of SOR’s commitment to supporting the rheology community, outreach activities such as the Thinkery event, the Student Trivia Night, and awards for outstanding student and postdoctoral oral and poster presentations, were expenses. The Society also covered travel expenses for plenary speakers and award recipients.
Table 3. Summary of SOR 2024 Annual Meeting Financials
Journal of Rheology
Since 2019, the Society’s publishing partnership with AIP Publishing (AIPP) has contributed to increased revenues through broader consortium marketing and reduced production costs, thereby improving net income from the Journal of Rheology. Under the terms of this agreement, SOR receives a guaranteed minimum revenue of $100,000 annually, with any additional net income (after expenses) shared equally between SOR and AIPP. In 2024, a new five-year agreement was signed, increasing the annual guarantee to $120,000.
As shown in Figure 3, the JOR revenue remains steady and is able to typically support the SOR operations.The bar chart illustrates SOR’s net operating margin (revenues minus expenses), exclusive of unrealized investment gains, highlighting the critical financial role JOR plays in supporting SOR. Without accounting for unrealized investment income, SOR operations in 2024 resulted in a net loss of approximately $12,000.
Figure 3. Bar chart shows SOR’s net operating revenue (excluding unrealized investment gains); line plot shows annual JOR profit.
Expenses of the Society of Rheology
To better understand the net operating loss in 2024, it is helpful to examine the Society’s expenses, which are summarized in Figure 4. In addition to increased publishing and AIP partnership expenses, major expenditures in 2024 included support for mission-driven initiatives such as the Rheology Research Symposium (RRS) and the Rheology Venture Fund (RVF). Operating expenses, covering professional services such as accounting, web services, legal support, and insurance, slightly decreased compared to the previous year.
Figure 4. Expenses for the Society of Rheology from 2015-2024.
Budget for 2025
At the October 2024 business meeting, the membership voted to adopt the proposed 2025 budget, shown in Table 4. The most significant change is a one-time $50,000 allocation for migrating the SOR website to AIP-hosted infrastructure. This is expected to reduce recurring maintenance costs in future years.
The 2025 budget also includes continued support for the Santa Fe Annual Meeting ($50,000), and introduces a new Discretionary Fund for the Journal of Rheology Editor to support sponsorships of other rheology-related conferences.
As in the previous year, the 2025 budget projects a net deficit; however, the expected gains from investment returns are anticipated to offset this shortfall, maintaining the Society’s overall financial strength.
Table 4. Detailed list of receipts and expenses from 2020-2024 and 2025 Budget voted at the Oct 2024 business and modified at the May ExCom meeting. The budget includes a new discretionary fund for the JoR Editor to provide sponsorships to other rheology meetings.
The Society greatly appreciates the contributions from the three members of the Audit Committee: Jeffrey Martin (chair), Brian Edwards, and Paul Salipante. The Audit Committee meets regularly to review the Society’s QuickBooks accounts and reports its findings to the Executive Committee.
The Society also appreciates the contributions from the three members of the Financial Advisement Committee: Rekha Rao (Chair), Jonathan Seppala, and Ryan Murphy.The Financial Advisement Committee reviews investment strategies to provide investment choices aligned with SORs mission and risk tolerance.