The big day is almost upon us. Friday is the culmination of months of work by the auction team, and there is every reason to believe that it will be another hugely successful event. We’ll have a full report in the bulletin next week.
Rotary-wise there is a lot going on. The board of the club met on Monday and reviewed our financial position. It is likely that the club account will make a small loss this year, mainly due to fees we pay to RDU, Rotary International and to the District being a bit higher than expected. Exchange rate movements haven’t helped us either.
This led into a discussion about how we ought to price our various events to allow for the time involved, to allow for the risk that events may lose money (even small amounts matter), and to allow for a profit which can be used to fund other activities.
There are several issues in all of this, not the least being how we represent the price and the event to club members and to the wider public when they are involved.
In a recent example, club members and friends went to the ANZAC breakfast which was a fundraiser for the children’s hospital. We partnered with the RC of Mt Victoria. Profits will go to the designated charity, there’s no question about that.
But what should happen with an event where the club is carrying some financial risk from an event – say by buying a certain number of tickets to a movie but not managing to sell them all? The club could well lose money which affects the books.
Are we entitled to build in a margin which the club retains irrespective of what is paid over to the charity or cause? And if so, what and how do we tell people about this? I think it would be wrong just to clip the ticket without telling anyone who was supporting the activity in question.
The board will be looking at these matters further, because they involve ethical as well as presentational and practical questions for our event organisers. I would like to get a clear set of policies developed and agreed for the club to use.
John Bishop – President
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