4. Budget (McKim/Gillanders) - Discussion Only

[Michael von Keitz]

Discuss the budget here.

[Michael von Keitz]

I guess you can't have a budget meeting without a budget! Please find the proposed budget for 2012-13 attached.

[Christopher Mallon]

A few points, as I read it through.

• The Amazon store sales are ... pathetic is the only word that comes to mind. We need to find more and better ways to push this. Also, do we still have the referral code that gets us a tiny % of any sales even off the regular Amazon site for those using it? We need to push THAT too.
• CCN advertising prices may be too high... perhaps lowering the rates would create a flood of advertising and increase the income? We're averaging about $30 an issue... Of course, the fact that it is frequently late means it's a bit unreliable for tournament advertising.
• Equipment... ouch. All the more reason to redesign how we do this. Although "Cost of Sales" is a bit nebulous without being broken down. How much of the $3500-$5000 in profit is actually eaten up as part of the $46000 we pay to the office contractor in terms of time spent on these orders? Not to mention "Office Expenses" which are also not broken down.
• Another equipment note. We are anticipating a greater profit margin than has occurred in the past. What is the evidence that we can possibly expect this to come true?
• Executive travel is... what? Our meetings are online now...
• We spent $94,197 or 82.5% of our budget last year on administrative items. 92.5% of the remainder went to the magazine.
• Those numbers for next year (estimated) are 84.0% and 100% !!!
• Why are we spending $1000 on legal fees? And why are we paying $3600 for an audit? That money would be much better spent on actually supporting chess! The lawyers and accountants don't need our money that badly...

[Gordon Ritchie]

Mike & Co.
I am in general agreement with the budget. I do have a couple of minor questions.
Why is interest from the Foundation going down? Under any scenario, interest rates cannot fall and will probably rise.
Why is there no provision for support for the Canadian Open this year, unlike the past two?
Why is there no provision for support for the Canadian Olympiad team? Surely it falls in this fiscal year ending April 1 2013.
Thanks.
Gordon

[Bob Gillanders]

Mike & Co.
I am in general agreement with the budget. I do have a couple of minor questions.
Why is interest from the Foundation going down? Under any scenario, interest rates cannot fall and will probably rise.
Why is there no provision for support for the Canadian Open this year, unlike the past two?
Why is there no provision for support for the Canadian Olympiad team? Surely it falls in this fiscal year ending April 1 2013.
Thanks.
Gordon

We receive a cheque for interest earned in the Foundation once a year each June. So there is no guesswork here, the $8,377 is the amount received. Paul can give a better explanation as to why it is down.

Financial support is unusual for the Canadian Open. Victoria 2012 received no support. Toronto 2010 & 2011 received support at their respective AGM's when they asked for assistance to help defray losses.

The Olympic budget stands at approx. 17k. Current fundraising efforts and the new FIDE travel funds from the FQE agreement are expected to be sufficient.

[Bob Gillanders]

Another equipment note. We are anticipating a greater profit margin than has occurred in the past. What is the evidence that we can possibly expect this to come true?[/list]

Sales for the 2010 Yearbook were very poor, so we have written off the inventory to zero. This accounts for the low margin in 2012. Margins going forward should be fine, in fact any yearbook sales will go directly to the bottom line.

[Christopher Mallon]

Sales for the 2010 Yearbook were very poor, so we have written off the inventory to zero. This accounts for the low margin in 2012. Margins going forward should be fine, in fact any yearbook sales will go directly to the bottom line.

Fair enough. One out of eight points addressed!

[Christopher Mallon]

Financial support is unusual for the Canadian Open. Victoria 2012 received no support. Toronto 2010 & 2011 received support at their respective AGM's when they asked for assistance to help defray losses.

This probably is something that won't happen now that we have online AGMs - which take place before the Canadian Open, and which do not have the organizers there in person to plead with the few Governors who are present. The full Assembly is less likely to approve something like this.

In fact I would think the Canadian Open is the last of our main events that we should be supporting, since a lot of that money doesn't stay in Canada. Better to support the Closed and Junior to try to increase the prestige of those events.

[Bob Gillanders]

Executive travel is... what? Our meetings are online now...

This is mostly mileage for quarterly meetings held between CFC executive (Michael, Hal, Bob) and Outpost (Gerry,Paul). These meetings have been very fruitful in establishing good communications between executive and office.

[Bob Gillanders]

We spent $94,197 or 82.5% of our budget last year on administrative items. 92.5% of the remainder went to the magazine.
Those numbers for next year (estimated) are 84.0% and 100% !!!

I am not following your argument.
How do you define "administrative"?