Fiscal transparency: where does our money go

The IPS has two major sources of revenue: 1) our membership dues and 2) our Congress fees. This page provides basic information on where those funds come from and how they are spent.

Membership dues

Our goal has always been to keep membership dues low and affordable by as many people in our community as possible. At the present time, we offer standard ($60), student ($30), and lifetime ($780) membership options. 

Membership dues are waived for members from primate range state countries, and we encourage anyone for whom the fees would be a barrier to joining to contact our Treasurer. As well as being able to attend our meetings at reduced rates, our members currently get free full access to our affiliate journal, the International Journal of Primatology. 

Congress fees

Our biennial congresses are organised by local primatological societies. We believe that promoting national and regional societies in this way is one of the best ways to support and grow primatology around the world. To allow these smaller societies to host a large multi-national Congress, the International Primatological Society will underwrite and support them in the associated planning process and costs. You can find out more about submitting a bid to run a congress by contacting our Secretary General.

All fees from each meeting go to either a) running costs of the meeting, for example the conference venue, catering, and online services. Or b) go towards our grants which include funding programs for Education, Conservation, and Research. 

We recognise that our in-person Congress fees are relatively high, but we now offer virtual attendance at our meetings to try to improve accessibility. We are still working on ways to ensure that we balance providing meeting access as widely as possible, while at the same time ensuring that we can continue to fund key projects such as our grants programs. 

Our grants program

The IPS gives out approximately $40,000 worth of grants each year across our different funding streams. Our Congresses, held every two years, together with our membership fees, represent the main sources of funding for these grants. 

Donations

We do also accept donations! Donations are a key way we fund our training programs and some of our specialised grants programs, such as the The Galante Family Winery Conservation Scholarship and the Charles Southwick Conservation Education Commitment Award. Anyone can make a donation at any size – you can find the details for our Heritage and Conservation funds here.

We’re always happy to hear from our members – please send us feedback and suggestions through our VP for Communications.