[SCA-AE] NMS--wider consideration

[Joel Welling]

Saleem, it looks like you're the only one taking me seriously, so please
bear with me while I continue to argue my point.

Well, I have to agree that the Kingdom newsletter has value.  I can't
tell how much value because I can't find the price for extra newsletters
on the SCA site, but I presume it's about equal to the $10/year they
charge for Compleat Anachronist.  I haven't actually read my newsletter
since, well, the Internet happened, but it still arrives.  I see value
in Tournaments Illuminated, but it isn't included in membership, so with
respect to this discussion it's moot.  The incorporation fees to
establish the SCA Inc. were paid in- what- 1970? So even if I believed a
central Corporation was necessary for the local groups to exist and
operate, it seems unreasonable to include that cost in the list of
things the Corporation provides.  I believe I did once use the in-person
contact which the Corporation provides, back in 1990 or so.  I'm not
sure I'm getting my $269,354.00 worth out of that one.

By Phoebe's numbers the Corporation's budget is $887K per year.  There
are on the order of 20,000 members.  I don't think you can argue that
this is a small organization.  One *fifth* of the budget goes to
insurance, the only irreducible expense I can see.  I absolutely do not
understand why, when they say they can't make ends meet, people just
start sending them more cash.

-Joel/Maghnus

On Tue, 2010-02-23 at 13:32 -0500, Chakalis, Joseph wrote:
> Depends. In a relatively small organization the cost per person to
> support the organization does tend to be disproportionately large. I
> think that is why the corporate office is trying to spread that cost
> around via the NMS, though I would not want to put words in their
> mouths. (Or caviar either, for that matter...) 
> 
> I ran a very small non-profit entity (a users group in a now dead
> industry) and we did not fund office overhead or insurance. Even so, the
> cost per member was higher than what I send to the SCA every year.
> Economy of scale. But, I can understand you might be disgruntled if the
> only thing of value to you is the insurance certificate. If you don't
> see value in Tournaments Illuminated, incorporation fees to establish
> the holding company which allows the local groups to exist and operate,
> providing in-person contact opportunities for membership and the BoD,
> etc. then the extra $25 per year certainly would seem a burden.
> 
> And no, I don't think that the organization always makes the wisest
> financial decisions. But I do think that for a group comprised mostly of
> volunteers it does a pretty good job.
> 
> Saleem
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> sca-aethelmearc-bounces+jchakalis=admin.rochester.edu at lists.andrew.cmu.e
> du
> [mailto:sca-aethelmearc-bounces+jchakalis=admin.rochester.edu at lists.andr
> ew.cmu.edu] On Behalf Of Joel Welling
> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:50 PM
> To: discussion at aethelmearc.org
> Subject: Re: [SCA-AE] NMS--wider consideration
> 
> So you think it's reasonable for the supporting structure to cost 2.5
> times the cost of the thing it supports?
> 
> -Joel
> 
> On Tue, 2010-02-23 at 12:40 -0500, Chakalis, Joseph wrote:
> > When you see a line item in the budget for $X for insurance that is
> only
> > the policy cost. There also is the supporting structure required to
> have
> > an organization that CAN buy insurance. So there is office, staff, and
> > all the other overhead associated with an incorporated entity. While
> > some services can be donated and that is always appreciated there is
> > also often the need to hire professional, outside service providers. I
> > presume this would also be the case with the SCA, Inc. I have not
> looked
> > at the organization's budget in a long time, so those are very loose
> > generalities. Having looked at the budget in the past, though, the
> only
> > really extravagant item usually in there is the office rental because
> it
> > is in a high rent area.
> > Saleem
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > 
> > I have a very different problem with this.  The *only* thing the
> > Corporate SCA provides for our events is insurance coverage for damage
> > to the hall, and liability insurance for group officers.  Every
> account
> > I've ever heard of the cost of this puts it at or below $10 per member
> > per year.  Every year I send them 350% of that.  What the heck are
> they
> > doing with the money, and why in God's name should we want to give
> them
> > more of it?
> > 
> > -Joel/Maghnus
> > 
> > 
> >
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