Proceeds from Authors Guild Foundation’s annual benefit dinner have fallen off the table

Thanks to the “papers please” policy of the New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, the audited financial statements of the Authors Guild Foundation (the “educational arm” of the Authors Guild) reveal that the proceeds from the organization’s annual benefit dinner held each spring have fallen off the table, declining in each of the last four years, from $294,647 in 2005 to $84,252 in 2009:

2005 Benefit Dinner
Revenue (net of direct expenses) was $294,647

2006 Benefit Dinner
Revenue (net of direct expenses of $56,314) was $216,522

2007 Benefit Dinner
Revenue (net of direct expenses of $51,842) was $180,983

2008 Benefit Dinner
Revenue (net of direct expenses of $52,635) was $174,875

2009 Benefit Dinner
Revenue (net of direct expenses of $49,948) was $84,252

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the slope of the graph. And how did the 2010 18th annual benefit dinner fare? We’ll have to wait until next year to read the “papers please” paperwork!