The Cost of Developing Standards

Why do CLSI documents cost so much? I was asked this question a few times at our Leadership Conference and Workshop last week in Baltimore. While this may be a bit of a dry topic, I believe it is important for our stakeholders to understand the basic CLSI financial model.

In a perfect world, to reach the broadest possible audience and fulfill our mission, we would offer our standards and guidelines free of charge. However, the simple reality is that our growing library of documents is expensive to develop and maintain. Consider,  the average fully allocated cost to develop a single consensus standard from project proposal to final approval is almost $200,000.

CLSI is structured as a nonprofit organization and by definition we have a public benefit mission. In good years, our excess revenues cover expenses, allow for maintenance of an adequate reserve fund for unforeseen events, and are reinvested into the organization to continue to meet our mission and grow. Historically, over the past ten years, CLSI has averaged 2% annual excess of revenues versus expenses to be reinvested for growth.

The revenue model for CLSI is largely based on two approximately equal sources – organizational memberships and document sales. Our major expenses fall into four areas: 1. the CLSI staff of 22 employees for standards development and  administrative support, such as order fulfillment, accounting/finance, customer support, membership, marketing, communications, and IT; 2. travel for reimbursable volunteers (for both CLSI governance and technical committees); 3. marketing, promotions, and communications; and 4. overhead, such as rent, utilities, and IT, which make up the majority of the remaining expenses.

CLSI is always looking for ways to diversify our pricing and revenue model to enable broader access to our standards and guidelines. Two recent examples are receipt of grant funding to support building laboratory capacity in HIV-ravaged countries, and to subsidize deep discount pricing for educational members and resource-constrained regions.

CLSI is not driven by a profit motive; we are driven by a mission motive. 

The most cost-effective way to obtain our documents is through membership. We have recently revised our membership categories based on member feedback. Our goal was both to provide options that are more in line with how organizations  use our documents and to  provide higher value.

We continually seek opportunities to manage our expenses and find alternative sources of funding. Suggestions are always welcome and encouraged.

Thanks.

Glen [ return to top ]