by Peter Stevens
A LOOK BACK AT 2024
While our fiscal year ends March 31, the change of the calendar year is always a good time to assess how the past year went and how things are going. First, I’d like to wish you and your families the best in this new year. Now I’d like to give a brief overview of how our budget works.
How does the Telegraph Hill Dwellers’ budget work?
We strive to run a break-even operating budget, meaning we balance our yearly spending with how much we receive. Our operating receipts come primarily from three sources: membership dues, advertising from The Semaphore, and donations from members and community. Currently, we are on track to meet our budget on receipts and spending. I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our members, businesses that advertise, and community members who have donated.
Our operating budget helps us put on social events like our First Friday Art Walks, Third Thursday Happy Hours, and third Wednesday Films with Friends. The budget subsidizes our holiday and summer parties, new member events, and, this year, our 70th anniversary party.
Our largest operating expense is The Semaphore, a quarterly publication that you are reading right now. It is the crown jewel of our organization and has served to document our community since 1956. I highly recommend that you go to THD.org to look at its archives. We have digital copies going back to the publication’s inception. This year we plan to expand The Semaphore’s digital footprint and focus as well on our neighborhood beautification efforts.
Beyond our operating expenses, we rely on grants and donations to complete our other work. An example: We received a contribution from a member’s estate that we used to plant 51 trees over the past year. We worked in partnership with Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) to plant them, and now we are in partnership with FUF to ensure the trees have everything they need to thrive and be enjoyed by us and future residents of the Hill.
We are always looking for new and creative ways to keep Telegraph Hill the magical place that we all call home. We soon will be working on our 2025-2026 fiscal year budget. I invite all of you to reach out and discuss with me any priorities you would like to see for our organization.
