At Long Last, Our 2008 Annual Report!

You may well have noticed that we’re rapidly reaching the end of 2009, and yet we had not yet released our annual report for last year. I’m happy to announce that this is no longer the case. The Show-Me Institute’s 2008 annual report is now available on our website.

Releasing the annual report so late in the year has become something of an unintended tradition — albeit one that we firmly intend to break for 2009’s report. Here’s what I wrote two years ago:

Most non-profit organizations release their annual reports much earlier in the year than this. Ours would have been out sooner, too, but we decided to commission a thorough independent audit — to make sure everything was fully on track and accounted for during our first full year of operations. We had most of the report ready to go several weeks ago, but we didn’t want to issue an incomplete profile. Some things are worth the wait.

And here’s what I wrote last year:

We had hoped to release this a few months ago, but a string of delays kept pushing it back in our schedule. We’re planning to begin working on the 2008 annual report in the next month or two, so that we can have most of the content ready by year’s end, then add the financials and other finishing touches in early 2009. That should allow for a much earlier release date next year.

So, what was the problem this year? Any guesses? Yes, once again, the audit took much longer than anybody expected, and after we finally got the numbers back we ended up making several changes to the work we had already completed on the annual report. I think that the end result is pretty great, though, if I do say so myself. And I’m particularly happy we managed to include a nice feature on our intern program and our free-market book club — including an excellent group photo on the cover that includes a collage of many of the books that the club read during 2008.

The Show-Me Institute had some outstanding accomplishments during 2008, and a large part of that success can be attributed directly to the people reading this blog, who are engaged by our ideas and research. We hope you’ll continue to help us finish up 2009 in style, and next year, I hope we won’t have to wait this long to tell you all about it!