Financial arrangements between the International Biocuration Conferences and the International Society for Biocuration
The society expects the conference organizers to make all possible efforts to ensure their conference at least breaks even. We would like to ensure that a source of seed money is available for each conference while minimizing any financial liability for the International Society for Biocuration (ISB). Unfortunately, the ISB has very limited funds and the financial liability from a single failed conference would bankrupt the society at the present time.
We propose that up to the equivalent of $20,000 (USD) (after currency exchange and transfer fees) are transferred from the profits of any biocuration conference on to the next but one meeting’s financial authority. For the Washington Conference in 2012, the profits (including monies from earlier meetings) were passed directly on to the 2014 Toronto Conference, skipping over the 2013 Conference in Cambridge. This arrangement worked well, because due to the length of time it can take to finalize the expenditure of a Conference, the monies may not have been dealt with before the next conference requires seed funds.
Figure 1. Showing the transfer of funds onto the next but one conference.
Any excess funds above $20,000 will be transferred to the International Society of Biocuration funds. If the profits from a conference are less than $20,000 USD then the total profits will be transferred to the next but one conference organizers as illustrated in Figure 1. If a conference makes a loss, then those losses must be borne by the conference organizers and the ISB will not take any financial liability for these. The ISB highly recommends that conference organizers purchase a “conference insurance” policy to cover this eventuality.
The ISB will let the new conference organizers know the venue and financial authority of the conference they must transfer their profits to within 8 months of the end of their conference. The conference organizers must have transferred the funds across to the future conference organizers within 4 months of being notified or 12 months from the end date of their conference whichever is longer. The conference organizers must have transferred any excess to the ISB on the same timescale. Any variations to the above must be agreed with the ISB at least 1 month in advance of the deadline.
Last updated 9th June 2023
