SC - Profit was Opinions?

[Decker, Terry D.]

> I think that the "we must make money" mindset stems from an older sca
> where groups were not quite as rich as we once were. Call it 
> old-school
> thinking. 

If by "old school" you mean trying to put on an event with $25 and a lot of
charm, then I've done it.  These days at its least expensive, putting on a
major event costs several thousand dollars, much of which must be laid out
in advance.  Locally, a minor event runs at least several hundred and often
runs over a thousand.  In general, a group needs to make a small profit or
have other sources of income to pay for the incidental expenses of running
the group and maintaining a bank balance adequate to put on its events.  

> They made too
> much money according to Corpora and this presented a problem. 
> What they
> did was gift all of our Baronies with an equal amount of 
> money including
> the travel fund set up for Royalty.

Corpora does not set limits on the size of a bank balance, nor does the IRS.
The IRS has guidelines on the amount of money which can be retained by a
not-for-profit organization to defray future expenses, but the guidelines
apply to the entire organization, not just a single group.  If your group
was told to divest some of the funds rather than deciding to do so, then
your group was likely the victim of "balance envy."  

When my group made an excessive profit one year, we used it to make one of
our events completely free of cost to the attendees.  But that was our
decision, not anyone elses.

> I see no need to always be regarding our events as
> money making endeavours. Falling a little out of budget should not be
> considered a failed event if the ideals of the sca are met and all are
> well fed and come away feeling that the event was a good one for
> everyone.

The goal is to plan for a small profit and accept a small loss.  If a group
does its costing effectively, the two balance out over time.  Regular
excessive profits or regular losses tend to say something is wrong with the
planning.

> Halls ands such do cost. From what you are saying I am wondering if in
> fact there is a problem with your area or your Autocrats. If 
> you rent a
> hall for say, $750. and expect a few hundred people I cannot 
> see how you
> would do anything but break even at the very least. 

And what if you don't have the $750 to pay the rent?  A group can not break
even if they don't have the bankroll to sit in the game and if the $750
represents most of a group's bank account, taking a loss may not be an
option.  I've seen a few events go in the hole because the expected crowds
did not arrive.

45 people in a $500 hall or 90-100 people in a $1000 hall isn't anywhere
close to "hundreds."  The site cost alone is over $11/person (probably for 1
night, since it is a hall).  Add a feast, and the cost may be prohibitive
for the group and the attendees. 

> My suggestion...have a small committee do a complete Site 
> Search in your
> immediate area (and update this annually). We did this a few years ago
> and brought to light several surprises.

This is reasonable, but I don't necessarily think you will find bargains.
Locally, we had state parks which were totally free.  Then they placed a
$2/tent/night user fee on them.  Then we went to no new taxes without a vote
of the people and the user fees went UP.  As the state fees went up, so did
the private fees.  Now it is $4-5/night/person and often with an extra fee
for the kitchen for almost any site in the area.

> 
> Being a small Kingdom perhaps this is not the "norm" for others but I
> see this trend as a negative one in the pursuit of what were are all
> really playing for.
> 
> 
> Micaylah

I've seen some groups push the profit.  In a couple cases, it was clearly
pocket mining.  Most of the others were groups who had had money problems in
the past and were scared to risk a loss.

I've listened to people grouse about event fees.  Usually, they had no idea
what the event cost or what the per person break out is.

The only answer is to really understand the finances, and neither of these
groups seem to want to do that.

Bear