Financial Committee Motions

Proposed Financial Solutions Committee Motions November 2015 Motion one:

Beginning in 2016 the costs of liability and worker's compensation insurance will be allocated to each venue (Minstrel, Swingin' Tern, Getaway, Special Concerts, and Member Concerts) proportional to their attendance numbers and performers fees. Comment:

Worker's compensation insurance is determined by our performer fees, so we will determine the cost for each venue based on the performer fees for that venue from the previous year. Liability insurance fees are determined by attendance figures, so the cost for each venue will be based on their attendance from the previous year.

The table below shows what the insurance allocations would have been for this year, based on the motion above.

Minstrel Swingin’Tern Getaway Special Concerts Member Concerts Total Insurance Allocation $2150 $1250 $850 $600 $150 Motion two:

Amend the existing motion from the 1980s that assesses each venue, excluding Getaway, 10% of their expenses to cover the Folk Project's General and Administrative expenses, also known as G&A. The purpose of this change is to better reflect our current financial status. In place of a 10% allocation, the venues will be assessed 3% of their expenses. We will continue to exempt the Getaway from this allocation.

Each year the treasurer (or designated assistant) will review our actual results to insure that we are adequately covering general Project expenses and recommend revisions if necessary. Comment:

The Folk Project has expenses that are not allocated to any particular venue. The unallocated expenses include printing the newsletter; NERFA participation; dinner at the annual meeting; July 4 picnic; software, such as QuickBooks and Constant Contact; tax preparation; sound equipment; membership in other organizations; etc.

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Likewise, we also have income that is not attributed to any venue. This income comes from membership dues and member participation concerts. In calculating the total income that is not allocated to a specific venue, we assumed that there would be four member concerts each year and that these would generate at least $300 in profits per show. We further assumed that one of these member concerts, the Birthday Show, generates income for the Minstrel and the rest generate income for general funds.

In the past we exempted the Getaway (formerly known as the Festival) from being assessed G&A expenses because it was "the party that we throw for ourselves" and we felt our community was best served by allowing the Folk Project as a whole to absorb the Getaway expenses rather than imposing this financial burden. In honor of this tradition, we propose that we assess the Minstrel, Swingin' Tern, Special Concerts and Member Concerts for these expenses and continue to exempt the Getaway.

The income from dues and member concerts covers most of the unallocated expenses, but not all of it. We calculate that our general expenses exceed general income by about $2000. This $2000 represents our net expenses, after deducting the expenses allocated to the venues such as rent, performer fees and insurance, and the cost of printing and mailing the newsletter, which is covered by Membership Dues. We need to generate this income from the Minstrel, Swingin’ Tern, Special Concerts and Member Concerts. The combined annual expenses for these venues is about $60,000. The $2000 that we need is 3% of that. So if we assess these venues for 3% of their own annual expenses, we can generate the $2000 to cover our G&A expenses.

The table below shows how this motion would allocate G&A based on figures from 2014:

Minstrel Swingin’Tern Special Concerts Member Concerts G&A Allocation (based on 3% of 2014 expenses) $ 900 $ 500 $450 $ 100

Finally, this table shows what would have been the full impact of both motions based on figures from 2014:

Allocation Minstrel Swingin’Tern Getaway Special Concerts Member Concerts Insurance $2150 $1250 $850 $600 $150 Overhead (based on 3% of expenses) $ 900 $ 500 $450 $ 100 Total $3050 $1750 $850 $1050 $250