[NR] (no subject)

Marc Carlson marccarlson20 at hotmail.com
Mon Feb 4 14:52:11 PST 2002


Just passing this along from one of my lists:

====================================================

Greetings to the Membership of the Society for Creative Anachronism from
the Board of Directors:


We come before you for consultation concerning the issue of a possible
membership rate increase for the SCA.


The SCA's membership rates have not changed since 1994. During the
intervening years, many of the costs associated with operations of the
Society have increased. For example, rents, printing, postage, and paper
expenses are up, and this trend is likely to continue. Our insurance costs
will rise by 17% in 2002. The stipend for newsletter production was raised
14% three years ago with no corresponding increase in revenue; the postage
portion of the stipend has been increased several times in response to
increases in postage rates. (Note that stipends are intended to cover the
costs of producing and mailing a two-ounce, simple newsletter, produced
largely with volunteer labor. Kingdoms that desire a fancier or larger
publication, or want to have the binding done professionally, need to raise
funds to cover the increased costs of those improvements.) The Directors
and officers have done their best to hold down the expenses they can
directly control, often by donating the expenses involved in performing
their duties, but that is a small percentage of the budget, and of course
items like those mentioned above are to a large degree outside of our
control. Membership numbers have not kept pace with these increases in
costs, especially sustaining memberships, as can be seen from the fact
that, while membership numbers are up, membership revenue is down.
Membership fees are the Corporation's primary source of revenue. The number
of paid members of the Society has remained fairly constant over the past
several years. It is easy to see that when revenue remains constant and
expenses increase, the financial picture is not good. Following is a
summary of revenue and expenses for the past five years (all figures below
rounded to nearest dollar; % change compares 1997 to 2001):


REVENUE 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 % chg
Number of  Members 23,814 23,832 23,802 24,400 24,988 + 5%
(includes all membership categories; annual average)
Membership Revenue $790,246 $621,768 $744,279 $761,633 $750,701 - 5%
Other revenue $145,932 $104,462 $94,277 $98,606 $87,741 - 40%
(includes Stock Clerk income, interest and dividends, TI advertising
revenue)
TOTAL REVENUE $936,178 $726,230 $838,556 $860,240 $838,442 - 10%
EXPENSES 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 % chg
Kingdom Newsletters $187,409 $189,421 $213,750 $209,789 $198,985 + 6%
Staff Salaries $172,693 $194,087 $219,253 $201,695 $221,680 + 28%
(includes cost of benefits and payroll taxes)
Corp Office Expenses $143,437 $115,817 $141,355 $134,165 $155,835 + 9%
Meetings/conferences $36,996 $44,566 $46,625 $37,176 $42,822 + 10%
Board member expenses $4,230 $1,644 $2,625 $841 $355 - 92%
Officer expenses $18,610 $9,717 $12,195 $10,671 $13,747 - 26%
Other Expenses $267,794 $265,971 $255,808 $257,638 $206,230 - 23%
(includes stock clerk costs, insurance, professional services, other
publications, and capital expenditures)
TOTAL EXPENSES $831,168 $812,222 $891,611 $851,976 $839,654 + 1%
NET INCOME(LOSS) $105,010 ($85,992) ($53,055) $8,264 ($1,212)
2001's final revenue figures are skewed because of a very generous,
one-time, unbudgeted donation of $40,000, which was earmarked by the donor
for a specific purpose (so it is not general revenue). The 2002 budget
projects a loss of approximately $66,000. Despite the budget shortfalls
over three of the past five years, this is not an emergency situation. At
present there is enough money to cover our subscription liability and the
Society's immediate expenses. But, looking into the future, clearly that
situation will not continue forever. The Board is strongly of the opinion
that an adjustment is needed to cover increases in operating expenses that
will inevitably occur in the coming years. It is our feeling that a single
increase designed to last several years is preferable to smaller, more
frequent increases, though we are open to argument on that point.
As Directors, we have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the
corporation has resources adequate to continue its operations. To that end,
the Board of several years ago instituted the Non-Member Surcharge (NMS),
which allowed the accumulation of an operating reserve. Once that reserve
was established, the Board repealed the NMS. That operating reserve, which
was fueled by the NMS, has been funding budget shortfalls at the Corporate
level for some years now. It would not be financially prudent to spend all
of the operating reserve with no plan to replace those funds.
We ask that members consider the following suggestions on how to increase
revenues so that expenses can be met into the future. We realize that these
suggestions are by no means the only options available. Please send us your
comments on these options and your alternative suggestions. The Board is
seeking a consensus from the membership on how to proceed. At present no
decisions have been made except that something must be done. We request
and highly encourage your suggestions and assistance. Note that
International memberships are not specifically addressed here. Those rates
may need to increase proportionately to any other rate increases that occur.


OPTION 1 - Tournaments Illuminated optional
Basic Membership: $35/year 3rd class; $42/year 1st class (Drachenwald and
Ealdormere available 1st class only). Includes member's own Kingdom
newsletter.
Dependent membership: $15/year (with a family cap of $70/year) available
only to immediate family members of a Basic member
Tournaments Illuminated: $10/year.
Additional publications, including any additional Kingdom newsletters and
Compleat Anachronist (per publication): $10/year 3rd class; $17/year 1st
class
Board Proceedings: $17/year (available 1st class only; includes Board
meeting minutes and Society Seneschal's report)


OPTION 2 - all publications optional
Basic membership: $25/year
Dependent membership: $15/year (family cap of $60/year) available only to
immediate family members of a Basic member
Publications, including all kingdom newsletters and Compleat Anachronist
(per publication): $10/year 3rd class; $17/year 1st class (Drachenwald and
Ealdormere available 1st class only).
Tournaments Illuminated: $10/year
Board Proceedings: $17/year (available 1st class only; includes Board
meeting minutes and Society Seneschal's report)
Alternate option for Board proceedings in both Options 1 and 2: Board
meeting minutes posted to the SCA web site. In this case the option to
subscribe to the Proceedings would be dropped. The Society Seneschal's
report would be dropped.
Under either of the above options the membership categories would be
reduced to two: Basic and Dependent (aka Family).


OPTION 3 - A general increase in the price of membership.
Membership categories and included publications would remain the same as
they are today. The price of each type of membership would increase by $5
to $10.


OPTION 4 A significant increase in the number of paid Society members.
We are NOT suggesting "pay to play". We would be very interested in
suggestions for ways to encourage more of our participants to become paid
members of the Society. Obviously, with more paid members to share the
costs, each member's share of those costs is reduced.


OTHER OPTIONS
Other options that have been discussed include reinstating the Non-Member
Surcharge, or designating a percentage of the gate from each event to go to
the Corporation. Undoubtedly there are many, many other possibilities that
have not yet been brought to the table.
Again, the Board asks for your comments and suggestions. "Unbundling" the
publications from membership and/or increasing the cost of memberships are
undoubtedly not the only options. There may well be other answers. Nothing
will be done until after input from the members and Kingdoms is received
and carefully considered. The membership will be kept informed on the
status of this endeavor.


Please send your comments no later than June 15, 2002 to:
Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
PO Box 360789
Milpitas CA 95036-0789
Or electronically to: comments at sca.org
Sincerely yours,
The SCA, Inc. Board of Directors



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