Treasurer's Report
Fellow Members, From a financial perspective, it has been an eventful and challenging year for NCF due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on our operations. For the year ending December 31st, 2020, National Capital FreeNet reports a surplus of revenue over expenses in the amount of $763. The main factor was that there was a 5% revenue increase in DSL revenue due to the fact that we increased our rates in 2020. Also, total grants increased 46.5% from $68,889.40 in 2019 to $100,933 in 2020. The slight upturn in revenue was accentuated by a decrease of 14.4% in salaries and benefit expenses (net of the subsidies received on salaries) that went from $469,858 in 2019 to $401,987 in 2020. The growth was mainly driven by decreases in professional development (97%), professional fees (24.5%), and office expenses (26.7%). Amortization of capital assets decreased by 20.2% to $59,966 in 2020 from $75,192 in 2019. Due to the previously enumerated factors, the net cash provided by the operating activities for 2020 was $145,962. The net cash used in investing activities was -$37,787, mainly investments undertaken to update the badly needed front-office software and the back-office software of the operation. Net assets rose by 0.33% in 2020. Out of the $229,948 in net assets, 73.9% ($169,982) are unrestricted assets, and 26.1% ($59,966) are invested in capital assets. Out of the total assets of $547,722, 78.5% are cash and cash equivalents (in this case a term deposit), while accounts receivable account for 5.5% or $30,186. A big proportion of accounts receivables (41.8%) is DSL services receivable from members in the amount of $12,615. We want to note that if we could not continue to receive income due to some unforeseen event, the cash levels shown as of December 31st would allow us to pay for 3.1 months of accounts payable and accrued liabilities excluding deferred revenue and contributions. If we include accounts receivables in the mix, we would be able to cover 3.32 months of accounts payable and accrued liabilities only. In 2021 National Capital FreeNet will face many challenges, including balancing pricing with the demands of member's use of bandwidth and DSL increased costs, increasing membership in DSL and cable internet services, and managing the infrastructure and operations to support all the changes while keeping this important social enterprise sustainable. Also, even though NCF received a clean opinion from our auditors, and most of last year's suggestions from the auditor were implemented, there are several suggestions and recommendations that will further enhance controls and oversight by the board that needs capital investment and finalization of the changes in our management software to be implemented fully. As Treasurer, I would like to again recognize the dedication of the volunteers, employees and members for their time and effort to bring safe and affordable internet services to the National Capital Region. I would also like to let them know how outstanding their contributions have been in making NCF a viable organization that has been able to survive and adapt and grow in the face of never-ending challenges and changes for more than twenty-five years.
Best Regards,
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