I am pleased to report to you, as Treasurer, that the Museum achieved another year of better than budgeted GAAP operating performance for the year ended, June 30, 2019. These results were driven in part by strong attendance and strong philanthropy, amongst other factors.
In terms of operating performance, last year we attracted 1,351,000 visitors to the Museum, which is a level of attendance not seen since 1999. This 4% above budget attendance caused audience-driven revenues overall to exceed financial expectations and helped achieve a surplus of $588,000 versus a $100,000 budgeted surplus. This continues a long trend of GAAP surpluses by the Museum. On a cash basis we had a better than budgeted cash deficit of ($969,000) vs a planned cash deficit of ($1,453,000).
The value of our endowment was $605 million at June 30 with a performance return of 1.7% for the fiscal year. As you all know, the equity markets have been challenging and may continue to be so. We have a well-diversified portfolio and benefit from an active and engaged Investment Committee seeking to maximize return and preserve the long-term value of the endowment. We believe when results are known in the coming months that we will benchmark reasonably well against peers in terms of overall performance.
We reduced our debt further this year by $5 million to $105 million at June 30. Our bond rating was reaffirmed by Standard and Poors last year with a rating of AA and we have a rating of Aa2 by Moody’s—evidence of our overall strong financial performance.
The Board of Trustees, upon the recommendation of the Budget and Finance Committee, adopted a budget for FY 2020 with a GAAP budget surplus of $100,000 for the Museum. This is a forecasted cash deficit after non-cash adjustments of $1,100,000.
The Budget and Finance Committee continues to monitor important projects such as the new Conservation Center. As of today, the project is proceeding on time and within its overall financial budget.
I would be remiss if I did not note one particular gift received in June for $20M for the reduction of our long-term debt in the future. This type of gift is rare and fundamentally reaffirming of the Museum’s cultural and educational mission, and we are very grateful to the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous.
Finally, I want to thank the dedicated members of the Budget and Finance Committee and Mark Kerwin and the Finance team for their great help and support this year.
Respectfully submitted,