Why must members pay to attend this year?

As you probably know, the annual SCIP event has evolved over the years from a single afternoon meeting to a full three-day conference with multiple educational sessions, a product show, and our annual membership meeting. We provide meals for our attendees for those three days and an exclusive tour at the end of the event. As you can imagine, the more we offer, the more expensive the event becomes to put on. Unfortunately, every year, those costs for the hotel, A/V, food, and speakers increase and will continue to do so.

To talk dollars and cents, the 2025 conference cost SCIP approximately $137,000 and the 2026 conference is projected to cost $176,000. The per person food cost alone in 2025 was $330. Depending on location, total conference costs increase by roughly $35K to 45K per year. Last year, after covering all conference expenses, the event netted about $20K for SCIP. Combined with approximately $22K in dues that support other SCIP costs (MADCAD, SCIP Chats, LegalLine, etc.), the organization finished the year about $1000 in the black. This is financially stable but leaves no room for growth or expanded services.

In the current fiscal year, SCIP has already paid about $40k in hotel deposits for the 2026 conference before receiving any income for that event, drawing temporarily on reserves with the intent to reimburse them from conference revenues. At the same time, SCIP must continue to fund ongoing operations, including the website and other member benefits. While the 2026 conference is projected to pencil out with raised sponsor costs and no attendance fee, there is still no room to grow and no room to implement strategic planning initiatives. The conference would remain a break-even only event and implementation of new services would be delayed.

SCIP’s strategic plan calls for adding services and benefits for members, including the potential engagement of an association management firm to reduce the workload on volunteers and improve continuity. Implementing these initiatives requires reliable, recurring revenue beyond simply breaking even on conferences and dues. The $295 conference fee is intended to ensure that the conference remains viable and that SCIP has funds available to implement the strategic plan and strengthen member services over time.

Not only do we want to deliver a great conference this year, but we want to continue to do so for years to come. We want to provide more for the membership, and that requires funding.

We hope you agree that the annual SCIP Conference provides value to you, and you will continue to support SCIP by attending.

Thank you, the SCIP Board of Directors