Financials

About ROR financials

In line with ROR’s commitment to openness and transparency, and in order to provide useful information about the costs of maintaining free and open infrastructure, we aim to share annual financial reports starting with 2023. This year is the most useful benchmark for establishing ROR’s operating costs as it represents the period in which the current resourcing model and complete staffing structure were solidified.

The Crossref accounting team administers ROR’s financial operations on behalf of ROR. Financial processes are described in full in the ROR Memorandum of Agreement. Accounting periods are for calendar years. Accounting currency is the US Dollar (USD).

2026

2025

2024

In total, it cost $555,433 to operate ROR in 2024. As in prior years, ROR’s three operating organizations provided in-kind support for ROR’s core operating expenses. Additional expenses were covered with funds received through community investments in ROR, including through (but not limited to) ROR’s participation in SCOSS. We also had a small remainder of grant funds from a previously funded project with the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

The majority (92%) of ROR’s expenses go toward dedicated personnel (see more information on the ROR team) and contract support. The remaining 8% reflect non-personnel expenses, including AWS hosting fees, travel to meetings and conferences, and administrative and licensing expenses.

2023

In total, it cost $607,810 to operate ROR in 2023. This is fairly consistent with the past couple of years, and we therefore budgeted a similar amount for 2024.

Thanks to the generous support of the community, we were able to cover 58% of ROR’s operating expenses in 2023 from ROR supporter contributions and from our multi-year grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. The remaining 42% of ROR’s expenses were covered in-kind by ROR’s three operating organizations.

People power open infrastructure, and ROR is no different. The majority (87%) of ROR’s expenses go toward dedicated personnel (see more information on the ROR team). The remaining 13% were non-personnel expenses, including AWS hosting fees, travel to meetings and conferences, and administrative expenses.

*Admin fees for 2023 reflect a one-time fee of 25,000 EUR paid to SCOSS for administrative support as part of ROR’s participation in SCOSS’s 2023-2025 funding cycle.