[Ansteorra] Pay-2-play, Pay-2-fight, Pay-2-whatever...

[Lisa May]

Caelin provides a pretty good explanation of some of the types of costs the
corporation incurs.  There are also annual filing fees to maintain the
corporation's status in California, and fees to prepare required tax
filings.  While a number of our members who are attorneys volunteer their
time on the Legal Committee to explore various legal issues at the request
of the BOD (we generally get one or two issues a quarter), the corporation
still has to hire outside counsel to handle litigation matters when the
corporation is sued.  The amount of time and effort required to defend a
lawsuit is beyond what most attorneys can afford to do gratis.

Maggie

Countess Margaret ny Connor
Barony of the Steppes
Kingdom of Ansteorra

On Jan 9, 2008 2:11 PM, Richard Threlkeld <rjt at softwareinnovation.com>
wrote:

> Others can probably better list this, but the Kingdom Newsletter and the
> membership card are the only visible benefits to most members. However,
> the
> organizational costs are significantly higher than just these. The BoD
> members are generally reimbursed for their travel to the BoD meetings
> including airfare, hotel, meals, etc. They are reimbursed for their phone
> costs for SCA related calls. They may be reimbursed somewhat for travel to
> Wars.
>
> The Society officers are reimbursed for limited travel expenses (typically
> $400-600/year) to oversee their responsibilities. They can also get
> reimbursed for legitimate office expenses and phone calls. The Seneschal
> and
> Exchequer sponsor a Symposium (annually I think) which is more or less a
> required meeting for all their direct reports (Kingdom Seneschals and
> Kingdom Exchequers). The kingdoms usually pay for the costs of their
> officers and the Society picks up the symposium costs and the Society
> officer costs.
>
> In the early days, many of these costs were absorbed by the officers in
> question, but as travel costs have gone up that is less possible. Also, we
> have made a push to allow people with more limited finances to occupy
> these
> positions. I don't know what level of such support is reasonable, but it
> is
> the trend.
>
> The Society carries a variety of insurance, but the most obvious is
> liability insurance. In our litigious society (the US, not the SCA) we can
> expect to be sued fairly often by people who get hurt or even killed at
> events. Think of the number of events and the number of people who attend
> them. We have safety programs and most of our first aid and up calls are
> for
> existing medical problems, but what about the guy who cuts open his foot
> on
> a tent stake? Even if the injured party does not sue, he gives his rights
> to
> his insurance company in return for payment of his costs and the insurance
> company may sue.
>
> Note, the Society does not carry any form of medical insurance for
> fighters
> or others who are at our events.
>
> We have a fairly complex financial structure with hundreds of little
> groups
> doing financial reports that are aggregated at the regional, principality,
> kingdom, and society levels. There may be property taxes or state/province
> taxes in some jurisdictions. We have currency conversions for
> international
> groups. And all this must be audited by CPAs to keep our IRS 501(c)3
> educational non-profit status in the US.
>
> As with any corporation, we have to have lawyers to prepare corporate
> papers, represent us with the IRS, work with plaintiff lawyers on
> lawsuits,
> and advise us on the implications of proposed actions of the BoD. All this
> is necessary with non-US countries also. We are finding it necessary to
> have
> expertise in all the states in the US and we must file with some of them
> in
> order to play in that state.
>
> All this costs money and it costs more over time. Whether the current
> membership structure augmented by the NMS is sufficient I cannot say.
>
> In service,
> Caelin on Andrede
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ansteorra-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
> [mailto:ansteorra-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Elisabeth B.
> Zakes
> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 11:31 AM
> To: Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc.
> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Pay-2-play, Pay-2-fight, Pay-2-whatever...
>
> On 1/9/08, Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace <sirlyonel at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > ... If ... income needs to be raised, increase the non-member surcharge.
> > I'm not a conservative thinker, but I think the membership requirements
> are
> > appropriate as they stand. If the income to SCA Inc. is inadequate,
> perhaps
> > the GC should consider a small increase in the non-member surcharge. I
> also
> > think an administrative charge for authorization cards for non-members
> would
> > be appropriate (a dollar or two would not be outrageous).
> >
>
> Can someone knowledgeable post -exactly- what the membership cost covers?
> I
> know we get a membership card and a newsletter. Is there anything else? If
> costs are rising, what are those costs?
>
> If the rising costs are for things that only apply to members, I don't
> think
> raising the non-member surcharge is the correct action there -- why should
> non-members pay more for something they're not getting?
>
> For the rest of it, I will let Don Robin's post speak for me.
>
> Aethelyan Moondragon
> Bryn Gwlad
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