[MR] NonMember Charges (fwd)

[David W. James]

[Forwarded with permission.  A discussion of the cost of insurance to the 
SCA, Inc. on a per-event basis.]

--- "Smith, Jeffrey C., Mr" <Jeffrey.Smith at cmtc.7atc.army.mil> wrote:
 > Hello!
 >
 > -----Original Message-----
 > From: haraldr [mailto:haraldr at drakkar.org]
 > Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2002 5:32 AM
 > To: SCAGC-L at LISTSERV.AOL.COM
 > Subject: 2002 Pay for Play
 >
 > > Insurance - charge the full amount of the insurance for an event to each
 > event.
 >
 > How do I determine what the cost is?

Very simply...

http://www.sca.org/officers/treasurer/2002budget.html

Shows insurance for all categories (including equestrian) of $73k 
anticipated
for 2003. Take that figure and divide by the number of events in 2002 and 
round
it up to a convenient dollar amount (perhaps to the next $5).

Without access to a copy of the society exchequers reports of events for the
year, we can presume that with 50 event weekends per year and 17 kingdoms 
that
we should have at least 2500 events per year. That comes to $30 per event.

The $73k includes $5k of anticipated additionally insured certificates and 
the
equestrian insurance (which generates income anticipated at $15k for 2003)
. We
can also require that the big wars pay a larger amount for insurance than 
other
events, they should be able to easily pay $15k combined against the 
insurance
based upon size. $73k total insurance less $15k current insurance income 
less
$15k from the wars leaves $43k to be covered by the at least 2500 events 
that
occur annually for a total of $17.2 round it up to $20.

That means the insurance for even the smallest event is only $1/person. Not
even close to $3/person.

There are likely to be more than 3 events per kingdom per weekend on 
average so
the rounding up and the conservative event count will serve to increase the
income from this one $20/event fee to cover any possible percentage of the
office expenses that could be conceived.

 > > Note that non-paid-members contribute to the same insurance rider 
payments
 > that
 > > any other event attendee pays.
 >
 > How does someone who doesn't pay, pay for the insurance rider payments?

Becuase we collect $15k annually for additionally insured and equestrian 
riders
above and beyond the main insurance that is paid for by the events,
irregardless of whether donors or non-donors attended the event.

 > > I am not aware of any others on
 > > a regular basis. Perhaps Meridies and other kingdoms that have been
 > collecting
 > > these surplus charges from their newcomers should be donating the gains 
to
 > > corporate?
 >
 > It's been done sporadically in many places as I've travelled around the
 > kingdoms.  I'm not sure why you think that money should be sent to
 > corporate.

Why was it collected? As an inducement to get people to donate because the
corporation needed money?

 > > 80+% of the corporate expenses are directly attributable to 
publications.
 > The
 > > people who receive those publications should pay for their benefit.
 >
 > And we do, at $35 a year.

No, closer to $15-20 per year. The kingdom newsletter stipend is at least 
$9/yr
and the TI is getting at least $5/yr for each subscription. Those of us who
insist on 1st class protection of our newsletters are subsidizing the
corporation even more as they don't send 100% of my postage upgrade to the
kingdom.

 >
 > > A consistant non-paid-member surcharge is extorting a donation in one 
form
 > or
 > > another. A non-paid-member can choose to donate $20 annually or be
 > extorted at
 > > the door of every event.
 >
 > Where did the $20 annual donation come from?  Did I miss this somewhere?

Minimum amount to donate to prevent paying the at the door charge for a 
single
adult. This presupposes that sanity will rule the NMS implementation and 
that
children will not be affected. Minimum donation for a family is $45 but
currently includes 2 publications for that price.

 > > Realisticly analyze the corporate expenses. Let subscribers pay for the
 > costs
 > > of their subscriptions and servicing them. Allow the kingdoms to trim
 > their
 > > publication costs by using electronic publication where possible. Let 
each
 > > event cover the costs of the insurance. Let each group cover the costs 
of
 > the
 > > infrastructure (corporate/society officers and board of directors who
 > create
 > > the manuals that allow the game to be similar from kingdom to kingdom)
.
 >
 > Most of those ideas sound good to me in concept (except for computing the
 > insurance costs, which I don't know how to compute and reserve judgment 
on).
 >
 > > One of the reasons I am not at all in favor of the current NMS is the
 > > exhorbitant amount that is being charged. It is geared to be punitive
 > rather
 > > than an equal sharing of the costs.
 >
 > I don't see the amount as exhorbitant.  That's less than 3 bottles of coke
 > cost where I live, and less than the 6-pack many SCA folks take to an 
event
 > in the USA.

We have already seen that a fair apportionment of the insurance is less than
$20/event. Without knowing exactly what each position is paid, the
pan-society-wide infrastructure (all overhead except servicing 
subscriptions)
seems to come to circa $100k-150k. That includes 100% of the expenses for 
the
society officers, estimates for the several semi-paid positions based upon
their being advertised as 40 hours per month positions, board expenses
including meetings etc, as well as some of the corporate office. At $150k/
yr we
are still only talking about at most $60/event. Balance the apportionment 
so
the big wars pay more than a 20 person pot-luck dinner event and it only 
takes
10 non-donors at the door at $3/ea to cover the $30/event. That means to me
that $3/hd is excessive.

 > > Once all the expenses of servicing one's
 > > basic $35 subscription are removed, there is less than $7 left, an 
amount
 > that
 > > has been covering the overhead for quite some time. There is even less
 > left
 > > over from the 3rd family member on but quite a bit of overhead for the
 > > associate $20 level membership (referred to as our primary money maker)
.
 >
 > Which may explain the cap on family membership prices.

Nope... the cap works against the SCA in that regard. If you have 10 people 
in
your family, the price is the same as for a family of 3 however each of 
those
family members will get their own renewal packet (11x17 double sided four 
folds
and all enclosed in another several pages with concomittant postage). My
estimated costs of the renewal packet is at least $.50 and possibly closer 
to
$1ea. If a family doesn't renew on the first reminder, they get a second set
with a different color paper a few months later, figure the same costs.

Does that help explain why I think $3/non-donor at the door is excessive?

Haraldr

=====
Dave Calafrancesco