Treasurer

Treasurer Report

Yes, another long Treasurer report. Attached are 3 profit and loss statements all to date. One shows our Vanguard account profit for this year to date. One is a general (everything combined) to see total profit and loss to date. And one is by class. We have been combining and rearranging a lot of the classes. Some of this data is not correctly categorized. It will make running reports a lot easier when it is done. Please bear with me as we tweak the classes and data. It will all make better sense when we are done. Make special note in the Class Report:

Other Income (145 Unrealized Gains\Losses) is the profit from the Vanguard account. It is not actual cash into our operating budget. It simply shows how much profit we would have for this year if we cashed it in. So no, we do not have $24,025 in profit in our operating checking account. By all means ask questions and I will do my best to answer.

My time as the treasurer is quickly coming to and end. I have resolved both the current bank & address problems. I have applied for a new Credit Card to help with recurring on line payments. Hoping for approval soon.

The Fellowship has agreed to rent us a mail box. The agreement has been signed. We now have a new, legal, Brick & Mortar mailing address at MUF. The bank will be happy. The cost is $50 per year.

Our New Address is:

The Folk Project

21 Normandy Heights Road

Morristown, NJ 07960

I know these next two topics fly in the face of tradition at the Folk Project. However, I thought it may be time to give them some consideration. I make these suggestions with the goal of making life simpler and not so complicated.

First is our News Letter. Everyone needs to be aware of the cost and labor, it’s a significant number when you add everything up. One yearly newsletter subscription cost between $22-$25 to print and mail each not counting any labor on the part of our volunteers. Consider, the member only pays an extra $5 for for the printed version. Our memberships are supposed to support our efforts not the other way around. We are loosing valuable resources. We should either charge $25 for the printed newsletter or, in my opinion, drop the printed version all together. In today’s age everyone has access to a computer & printer either alone or through friends & family. If you want a printed copy you can simply print it at home. We don’t need to use up our volunteers time and hard earned money. Costs are considerable… one news letter is no big deal but when you multiply it by 100+ it cost the Folk Project $2500 in 2019. Need I say more?

Second: How we pay our performers. Michael has spent countless hours and emails these last few months trying to sort out this problem. Perhaps it is time to think outside the box. Most other venues charge a reasonable price at the door and pay their performers with a check at the end of the performance. Simple and straight forward. The “Creel” was a unique idea in the 1970’s. Maybe not the best choice today. I suggest we charge a fair price at the door and and stop using the creel as part of how we pay our performers. The Creel creates accounting problems. Tracking all the numbers is a problem, paying the performers is a problem, bookkeeping is a problem, calculations to keep the whole thing straight is a problem. If people are willing to put money into the Creel they are willing to pay more to get in the door. If you are worried about those few patrons who can’t afford a price hike of 5-10 dollars at the door we can institute a discount card for those who would qualify. Without the Creel we could have a check ready for all our performers at the end of the night for their performance. No more guess work, no more Creel Shaming Commercials during a concert, no more worksheet calculations, no more paying performers with a bag of cash, no more bookkeeping problems….

I would also like to go one step further and get a card reader/swiper making buying a ticket easy. No one would be caught cash poor at the door. Life would be so much simpler. By all means keep the Creel for tips but it shouldn’t be part of how we pay our performer's fees. As for the 1099’s, they are far easier to to generate plus, better to be crystal clear with the IRS and not ambiguous when we call the creel a donation/tip when in fact it counts towards the performer's fee. We are a non profit so the income doesn’t effect us beyond what form we need to fill out at the end of the year. It seems like a no-brainer for me.

Lastly, I strongly believe we need a finance committee. We need a very small group of well qualified people to keep an eye on things. The venue chairs watch what they do but no one is really keeping an eye on the big picture except me. I have talked about it a lot. I think if the committee met quarterly and took a long hard look at our financials and talked about our goals in terms of present and future for the Folk Project as a whole it would be a really really good thing.

I realize these things don’t have much of a chance but I had to say them out loud at least once.

Mike asked months ago where the money to pay Karen would come from.

With dropping the Workmans Comp we save $2500 a year. Something the board voted unanimously to drop and Steve Humphreys researched extensively and our bookkeeper concurred. I have worked with Karen to reduce our class list so we can drop back down to the middle version of Quickbooks saving another $1000. Lastly if you reevaluate the News Letter that would be another $2500. With a grand total of $6000 in savings. (These numbers are approximate and based on 2019)

Respectfully submitted

Peggy Karr/Treasurer