Center for Surrogate Parenting, Inc.

CSP's Financial Structure

CSP has been in business for years. In that time we have seen downturns in the market place and the crazy days of the dotcom era. Through all these ups and downs, we have worked hard to maintain the size of our company and the high standards we offer our clients. We have seen many small agencies start up, grow at an amazing rate and then experience financial turmoil and close their doors. At one time it seemed that every surrogate mother felt qualified to run a surrogacy agency and every Intended Parent felt they were equally qualified. Some were indeed qualified and have to this day stayed in business. Most have failed to survive past the first five years of business.

In today's world having years of running a successful business is no longer the only measure of one's success. The following are questions we recommend you ask of any agency you are considering, along with a response pertinent to CSP.

1. Is this agency financially secure at this time?
CSP is financially secure in that we have no creditors exceeding 30 days outstanding. In fact all bills are paid twice a week. CSP's California office, where financial affairs are managed, has been at our current address for over 9 years and at our previous address for over 18 years.

2. Does the agency have any outstanding loans or has the agency guaranteed any loans?
CSP does not have any outstanding loans (except minor lease agreements on our postage machine and photocopier and then, of course, our rental agreement). CSP has not guaranteed any loans except for our rental agreement contract.

3. Who has non-business-hour access to the agency's premises?
CSP issues access cards to all employees working at our California address. Each employee is limited in their access depending on their position. All non-business-hour entrances are recorded by computer. Access to computers are all password protected. CSP's California office is located in an office building with a security guard at the entrance. Although it is always possible that any office can be broken into, we have worked hard to ensure that our offices, files and computers are as safe as can be. It is possible that guests, repair and installation workers, delivery personnel, family members, etc. will have easy access to a home-based office and therefore access to private records, files, social security numbers, bank account information and blank checks. It is therefore important to investigate whether these small offices have filing cabinets that lock and a home safe to securely store blank checks.

4. Is the banking institution the agency banks with a secure bank? Are all funds FDIC insured?
Yes, CSP has banked with Bank of the West for over 14 years. Bank of the West has been in operation for over 100 years. In these turbulent times when other banking institutes require federal assistance to continue operations, Bank of the West remains strong and very well capitalized. Their capital ratings are very high and they are supported by their parent bank, BNP Paribas. BNP Paribas is one of the six strongest banks in the world with over 2 trillion dollars in assets. In addition to the Bank’s strength, CSP’s funds are supported by the Federal Government’s FDIC insurance program.

5. Are trust funds held in a separate banking account from the agency's general banking account?
Yes. CSP has a general banking account which is a totally separate account from the trust account. The trust account, Prospective Parents Trust Account, is under a distinctly different name with William Handel and Karen Synesiou as Trustees.

6. Are the trust funds audited by an outside auditor and if yes, how often?
The trust account is audited by an independent CPA every three months and certifies in writing that the audit occurred and that the accounting is accurate.

7. Who has signing rights on the trust account?
William Handel and Karen Synesiou are the main signatories of the account. In the event of their absence from the office one trusted staff member is permitted to sign checks up to a maximum of $5,000.

8. In the event the owner of the company is on vacation or hospitalized, who signs checks?
Since there are two signatories, company directors William Handel and Karen Synesiou, it is highly unlikely that a third party would be needed to sign checks.

9. Who is responsible for balancing the trust account to the bank statement every month?
There are two Trust Coordinators: Molly O’Brien and Tricia Schacknies. Each Trust Coordinator is responsible for one trust account. Molly and Tricia can write checks from their accounts but have no signing rights. They also do not balance the accounts against the bank statements at the end of each month. Jan Jones, the Trust Administrator, has the task of balancing the bank statements to each individual trust account. Jan is not able to write any checks from the trust accounts.

10. Who is permitted to write checks from the trust account?
Molly and Tricia, the two Trust Coordinators, are the only two individual staff members who have passwords allowing access to the trust accounting system and who are able to write checks and are the only two staff members who have access to the safe where the blank checks are stored. They do not have any signing rights whatsoever.

11. Are monthly ledgers sent out to Intended Parents?
Yes. Every month CSP mails – when requested by couples these can now be emailed – monthly ledgers to each couple in our program. The ledger has an opening and closing balance displayed. In addition every check number, the name of the payee, and a two line description is included for each check. Deposits are also displayed on the ledger.

12. What security precautions are in place to prevent or minimize theft of funds by staff members?

a) a) The trust account is divided into two accounts with a different Trust Coordinator assigned to each account. Each Trust Coordinator has her own checks for her account and the checks are different colors with a different sequence of check numbers so they are visually easy to notice. Each Trust Coordinator is restricted to writing checks from her account only. No check can exceed $5,000 per check. Check stock is kept in a safe and every day each Trust Coordinator checks to ensure that the correct check number is available that day and that no checks are unaccounted for. Neither Trust Coordinator has signing rights nor do they balance their own bank accounts to the bank statement.

b) b) There are two individuals with signing privileges, the Directors and owners of CSP, Karen Synesiou and William Handel. In the unlikely even that neither of these parties is in the office, one trusted staff member is permitted to sign checks. This staff member has no access to any of the accounting systems or the safe combination where unused checks are kept.

c) Jan Jones, Trust Administrator, randomly audits at least two trust accounts every week.

d) Jan balances account balances to bank statements.

e) e) An independent CPA audits the trust account every three months and certifies in writing that the audit occurred.

f) Only Karen Synesiou and William Handel can authorize wire transfers out of the trust accounts. Before any monies are wire transferred out of the account there must be proof that the Intended Parents have requested the transfer and funds can only be transferred to an account owned by either or both Intended Parents.
13. What qualifications and experience do the owners have to run a business?
Bill Handel obtained his law degree in 1979. Bill is also a national talk show host and has the number one rated talk show in Southern California. Bill has been involved in several successful companies in addition to founding CSP 30 years ago. Karen Synesiou has an undergraduate degree in business and a law degree that she obtained in 1986. Karen is the Chief Financial Officer for CSP and has run several other successful companies in her career.

In our years of business we have seen various staff members come and go and we have learned many lessons. We have seen our field grow from a few agencies to several hundred, and CSP has survived. We have witnessed small agencies grow at amazing rates and fall even quicker and we have studied their journeys. In October 2008 when we realized that the recession was real, we immediately reacted to prepare our company. Amongst the changes we implemented was a restructuring of the compensation paid to surrogate mothers. We want our lovely surrogate mothers to receive compensation for their generosity. However we anticipated that our surrogate mother applications would increase and that lowering the compensation would not reduce our available pool of surrogate mothers. It is easy to be generous when times are good. When the good times return we will once again encourage our couples to be generous in showing their appreciation. But in a depressed economy we believe it is the right time to rework our figures. Our surrogate mothers already enrolled in our program were entitled to continue under the compensation package we had offered them. However all new applicants are only offered our new compensation package.

CSP is financially secure. Both owners of CSP have vast business experience they bring to the table and it is due to their business skills that CSP continues as a leader in the field of surrogate parenting. These are hard economic times and we are aware of this, and we are using all our business skills to prepare our company for the road ahead. The principles of CSP and all the staff have a passion for surrogacy and we cannot imagine working in any other field. We are proud to be given the opportunity to help our clients create their families. CSP has been helping couples for over years and we will be here for you in the years to come.

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The Center for Surrogate Parenting, Inc. (CSP) is a world-renowned surrogacy agency with offices in Encino, California, and Annapolis, Maryland.
CSP is a home of surrogacy, surrogate, surrogate parenting information regarding acquiring an egg donor,
egg donation, infertility, ivf, in vitro fertilization, gestational surrogacy and assisted reproduction.
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