Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 15:34:30 +0500 (EST) From:dani@telerama.lm.com What follows is an initial presentation of the 1996 SCA Inc. budget, with comments, annotations, and comparisons to previous years. Note that all the material has been retyped and reformatted, and I may have introduced some errors in the process. A number of factors make analyzing the budget difficult: We don't have actual figures yet for 1995. We do have actual figures for 1994, but if there is such a thing as a typical year for the SCA, that wasn't it. The 1996 budget was clearly constructed by applying guestimated adjustments to the 1995 budget, even in places where it made little sense to do so. We do the best with the numbers we have. The budget is similar to last year's, with about the same excess of revenues over expenditures showing. Roughly speaking, expenditures went up about $40,000 spread over a large number of items, membership revenues went down about $35,000, and this was offset by including $70,000 worth of subscriptions that were omitted from last year's budget. In what follows, I'll include notes on specific items but, for the most part, I'll leave further editorializing for another time. Estimation of Membership Revenue 1996 1995 Budget Budget ============ ============ International 1,675*$25 41,375 1,272*$25 $ 31,789 Sustaining 16,210*$35 567,350 17,971*$35 528,976 Associate 2,000*$20 40,000 2,100*$20 42,000 Family 6,000*$10 60,000 4,200*$10 42,000 ------- ------- Total Membership Revenue 709,225 744,765 Comments: The budget is based upon the dual assumption of a continued slowdown in membership growth and a continued migration from sustaining to family membership. Whether forecasting such low revenues is 'conservative' or 'unrealistic' remains to be seen. Sedalia's report says that the budget is based on a growth rate of 3%, but it also notes that membership grew by over 2% in the past quarter. (My guess is that 3% was the figure that made the budget come out 'right' -- and that the Board spent a lot of time arguing about expenditure figures and little or no time questioning revenue figures. As of last July, the 1995 revenue figures were abot 10% higher than budgeted.) I'd be interested in seeing an updated breakdown of actual memberships. Sustaining memberships took a dive in early 1995, partly because the 1994 pay-to-play bulge expired, but it's not clear why another 10% drop would be forecast for this year. Soc. For Creative Anachronism Statement of Revenue & Expenditures 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ Revenue Memberships $709,225 $744,765 $689,984.11 Australia Contribution 9,357 9,357 9,130.28 Other Subscriptions 70,000 Non-Member Surcharge 60,000 50,000 27,021.74 Stock Clerk 70,000 64,919 67,227.99 Stock Clerk -- Australia 3,030.47 Stock Clerk -- CA 11,911.25 TI Advertising 16,000 29,033 22,255.44 Miscellaneous Income Insurance Cert's 5,000 4,058 5,376.00 Interest Income 1,500 1,000 1,409.92 Other 1,200 1,200 -2,166.18 ------------ ----------- ------------ TOTAL Revenue 942,282 898,330 835,081.02 ------------ ----------- ------------ Comments: 1. I don't know what the Australia Contribution is. It looks as if money was donated in 1994, so a similar figure was assumed for 1995 and 1996. (Has such money come in this year?) 2. I don't know whether the Australia and California "Stock Clerk" figures went away or were merged into a combined category. 3. "Other Subscriptions" is presumably the first-class postage surcharge, revenues for Compleat Anachronist, and charges for multiple newletter subscriptions. These items appear to have been ignored in previous budgets. As before, the Corporation takes a profit of about $1.50 on each first-class surcharge. 4. TI advertising is expected to fall by close to half. It's not clear how much of the drop is due to the rate increase being unrealistic and how much is due to the lack of a sales director. 5. The 1994 "Other" figure collapses several items that were separate two years ago: The $2773 Board Minutes refund, $3,129.54 in Postage Income, a $3832.14 charge for Returned Checks, $109.54 in Dividend Income, and $1199.88 in Lawsuit Recovery. I have no idea what source of income the $1200 for 1996 is supposed to represent. 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ Expenditures Kingdom Newsletters Kingdom Newsletters Stipends 210,000 195,598 188,186.03 T.I. Expenses Postage 28,000 29,250 26,248.08 Printing 42,000 51,820 48,744.83 Office supplies 700 1,000 408.72 Articles & Artwork 800 1,000 701.87 TI Editor Honoraria 4,800 3,000 2,800.00 Editor Office Expense 1,600 1,800 2,093.78 Editor Travel 500 509.39 Art Director/Office 4,600 3,735.24 Miscellaneous 3,684.42 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL T.I. Expenses 78,400 92,470 88,926.33 ------------ ----------- ---------- C.A. Expenses Postage 18,000 18,000 9,023.21 Printing 18,000 17,500 21,489.72 Editor/Office 500 800 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL C.A. Expenses 36,500 36,300 30,512.93 ------------ ----------- ---------- Publications Total 324,900 324,368 307,625.29 ============ ============ ============ Comments: 1. I'd heard an increase in newsletter stipends was being considered, but a 10% decline in sustaining membership and a 7% increase in stipends translates to an increase of almost 20% per issue. That seems high. 2. $42,000 for printing TI seems unrealistic. The only reason it was as low as $48,744 in 1994 was that only three issues were printed that year. (The SCA reports expenses on a cash basis. That's convenient for IRS reporting, but often misleading for management purposes.) 3. The Art Director's budget seems to have disappeared. I suspect that's too good to be true. This discrepancy, plus the dramatic reduction in budgeted printing costs, offsets the increase in newsletter stipends, but I'd be interested in knowing how those figures were arrived at. 4. The 1994 miscellaneous TI expenses include $235 in advertising expenses and $3449.42 for the reader survey. 5. The 1994 figures for CA -- printing costs being double postage costs -- seem realistic, given that CA goes out third class. The budgets for this year and last call for double that postage, however. 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ Stock Clerk Cost of Sales 32,000 30,000 31,063.85 Inventory Variance Adjustment 50 1,193.52 Printing 8,500 7,000 7,078.36 Postage 18,000 17,000 14,565.62 Office Supplies 3,000 2,500 1,862.76 Other 440 446.74 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL Stock Clerk 61,990 56,500 55,017.33 ------------ ----------- ---------- Comments: 1. Variance represents the difference between budget and reality, so it's unusual to see it as a budget item. 2. The 'other' figure is $200 for telephone expenses and $240 for travel. 3. Stock Clerk revenues are budgeted at $8000 over expenses, but this doesn't include the SC's salary. 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ Board Members Telephone 7,000 10,000 9,662.55 Postage 500 1,000 8,256.74 Office supplies 200 1,000 899.58 Travel 1,000 1,000 224.00 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL Board Members 13,000.00 15,500.00 19,052.65 ------------ ----------- ---------- Comments: 1. The 1994 postage figure is inflated because part of the cost of the January mailing was buried there. 2. Postage and office supply budgets have been cut drastically. Either the directors expect to get far less mail this year, or they mean to answer far less mail this year, or they've decided to swallow the costs personally. 3. The 1994 total also includes $9.78 in miscellaneous expenses. 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ Society Seneschal Office expenses 8,000 4,500 4,020.48 Travel 4,000 2,000 861.01 Stipend 6,000 4,575.00 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL Society Seneschal 12,000 12,500 9,456.49 Comments: 1. The increase in SS's expenses actually happened in 1995, but the budget was never updated to reflect that. 2. Presumably, the SS's stipend has been moved into the general salary pool. 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ Chancellor of the Exchequer Office expenses 1,100 1,100 1,610.86 Travel 500 800 254.19 Stipend 4,200 3,600 3,852.00 -------- ---------- -------- TOTAL Exchequer 5,800 5,500 5,717.05 Chronicler Office Expenses 1,000 600 406.42 Travel 500 600 0.00 -------- ------- ------ TOTAL Chronicler 1,500 1,200 406.42 Laurel Expenses 0 0 1,337.26 Marshall Office Expenses 800 800 Travel 500 800 -------- -------- 1,300 1,600 Art and Sciences Office Expenses 800 400 Travel 500 400 -------- ------ 1,300 800 Archivist Office Expenses 400 400 221.25 Chirurgeon Office Expenses 800 600 686.29 Travel 500 400 -------- ------ 1,300 1,000 --------- --------- --------- Society Officers Total 23,600 23,000 17,824.76 Committees Office Exp 5,000 2,000 Travel 1,500 ------- ------ 6,500 2,000 Board Meeting Travel - Airfare/taxi 20,000 12,500 13,694.57 Lodging 8,000 6,250 5,714.31 (Hotel,) Food, Beverage 2,000 3,200 3,485.15 Conf. Call Meetings 3,000 4,000 4,545.31 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL Board Meeting 33,000 25,950 27,476.17 ------------ ----------- ---------- Board and Officers Total 71,800 63,950 64,353.58 Comments: 1. The 1994 Board meeting total includes $36.83 in miscellaneous costs. 2. In previous years Board meeting expenses were sliced up differently. The food-and-beverage line was titled "Hotel, Food, Beverage", and presumably included some of the costs now showing in Lodging. 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ Salaries, Benefits & Taxes Salaries 142,200 142,000 99,145.87 Payroll taxes 11,000 11,000 9,266.28 Workers' Compensation 1,300 1,500 1,426.58 Medical - employee 5,000 4,000 3,832.30 Pension 10,000 6,000 <484.76> Training & Development 1,000 1,500 0.00 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL Salaries, Benefits & Taxes 170,500 166,000 113,176.27 ------------ ----------- ---------- Comments: 1. I have no idea what the Salaries figure includes at this point. At a guess, this year's figure includes the Society Seneschal's stipend and doesn't include that of the Exchequer, and includes no pay increases for the office staff. It was stated last year that the large increase from 1994 was driven partly by including the Executive Director's budgeted compensation instead of calling it contract labor, but this year's budget doesn't appear to include funds for an executive search. The Executive Assistant's stipend also may or may not be buried here. 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ General & Administrative Rent 39,000 32,064 25,979.39 Utilities 4,000 2,700 2,883.06 Telephone 8,000 12,000 12,255.88 Equipment supplies 8,000 13,300 12,720.45 Maint. Contracts,etc. 13,000 10,000 11,613.55 Depreciation Expenses 0 11,610.00 Printing 22,000 20,000 22,167.19 Postage 20,000 23,000 28,663.83 Travel 500 0 235.50 Bank service charges 8,000 4,700 5,521.03 Licenses and Fees 600 1,000 678.95 Moving Expenses 1,253.75 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL General & Administrative 123,100 118,764 135,582.58 ------------ ----------- ---------- Comments: 1. Our new lease appears to have a very hefty built-in annual increase. 2. I'm not sure I believe the decrease in telephone and supplies. Is the office expected to do less work in the future? 3. Given that there are capital purchases budgeted, I'm surprised that there are no depreciation expenses. (None were budgeted last year, either. I guess this is a side-effect of reporting on a cash basis. Did we do it differently in 1994?) 1996 1995 1994 Budget Budget Actual ============ ============ ============ Professional Services Legal 10,000 7,000 67,781.62 Accounting 12,000 10,000 24,243.25 Bookkeeping 4,500 7,000 6,697.00 Consultants-Other 4,000 0 59,716.00 Exec. Director search 0 5,000 0.00 Computer Consultant 10,000 6,000 66,029.78 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL Prof. Services 40,500 35,000 224,467.65 ------------ ----------- ---------- Insurance General Liability 35,000 45,000 43,211.20 Fidelity Bond 200 1,200 1,090.00 D & O Liability 2,000 2,000 2,000.00 Equestrian 9,500 3,000 3,029.68 Property 500 675 647.00 International 5,000 0 0.00 Cert. of Insurance 5,000 3,325 3,316.96 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL Insurance 57,300 55,200 53,294.84 ------------ ----------- ---------- Total Corporate Office 391,400 374,964 526,521.34 Capital Expenditures 7,000 28,000 12,677.38 Nonmember Surcharge Rebate 19,800 ------------ ----------- ---------- TOTAL Expenditures 876,890 833,951 965,899.78 Revenues over Expenditures 65,392 64,379 <131,577.21> Copies of the 1996 budget may be obtained from the Corporate office for $2.