It *is* difficult to discuss the budget when we can't quanitify our largest
expense.  :)

However, if our expenses go up significantly (by adding our actually
electrical costs), and if nothing else changes (reduced expenses &/or new
sources of revenue), then our membership dues will have to increase.

My guesstimate is they'd have to increase by more than 50%, which doesn't
sound good at all - I fear that such a large increase might cause
membership to further drop.

I wonder if we could qualify for a hydro grant by installing light
timers/motion sensors, etc?





On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 4:28 PM, Mark Jenkins <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 08/29/12 13:35, Jay Smith wrote:
>
>> All of our financial information is available upon request to members,
>> even the rent values. I do greatly appreciate your enthusiasm, but
>> really, don't be afraid to ask me for the details before giving scary
>> estimates :)
>>
>
> I have an enthusiam for making some non-private things available to folks
> without the barrier of them having to ask or wait.
> (not saying you ought to going out of your way to do always do so -- for
> the moment, this is an area where I'm willing and interested to take on the
> public side of it)
>
> It's sort of a classic push vs pull kind of thing.
>
> I also have enthusiasm for putting out a version 0.1 release even if it's
> wrong and causes a panic -- for me that's the path to soliciting better
> information to reach version 1.
>
> To me at least this is a hacker style.
>
>
>
> The books can contain what some members would consider personal
>> information,
>>
>
> The actual detailed books of course are not one of those things I would
> ever suggest making available.
>
> In personal privacy terms, there's a world of difference between summary
> statements / projections and the actual detailed record books. Some folks
> could perhaps get confused perhaps because bookkeeping software give you
> the ability to create summary reports from the underlying detailed data.
>
>
>
> and the details and status of the lease is something we
>> guard jealously considering the current rental market. This is doubly
>> important considering our current situation.
>>
>
> I've removed this from my projections:
> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/**16487130/skullspace_budget.pdf<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16487130/skullspace_budget.pdf>
> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/**16487130/skullspace_budget.ods<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16487130/skullspace_budget.ods>
> and replaced it with a zero and "* Rent has been deemed too sensitive by
> the Skullspace board to disclose publicly"
>
> I disagree with the reasons given off list for keeping our rent away from
> public forum, but won't I share the info I've been provided here on list.
>
>
> I'll make sure to have a cash-flow report ready for the next meeting. If
>> anybody would like to meet sooner though, I am free over lunch on Friday
>> to talk numbers.
>>
>
> I'll drop a quick spoiler before then:
>> - We can and will maintain a balanced budget.
>>
>
> What I hope (and disclose publically if allowed) from our historical
> records prior to Friday or Tuesday is:
>
> Re memberships:
>
> * Overall trend in membership numbers over the past year?
> or
> * Overall trend in getting folks who are behind to pay up and return once
> they're harrased vs just discovering they are gone? (e.g. 50% of 2 month
> deliquants are brought back)
> or
> * And/or anything else that would help us project membership dues going
> forward.
> (I'd like to go on the the assumption that we fix our electrical woes, but
> otherwise imagine that there won't be great increase in organized activity
> [classes, seminars, talks, etc] to drive more memberships. If we manage to
> also do that then we'll be doing really well)
>
>
> And also:
>
> * Net sales of junk food and or gross sales and cost of goods sold over
> the past year
>
> * Net sales of merchandise and or gross and cost of goods sold over the
> past year
>
> * donations over the past year
>
> All of these are variable over the course of the year (less in the summer)
> but for projections purposes we can just take the annual and use the montly
> average
>
> For the rent and aything else that comes up and is deemed private, I hope
> we can achive a middle road between mailing list disclosure (very public)
> and the only options offered now of asking or showing up to a meeting where
> you recieve that has to be destroyed later. (very private)
>
> If the board will allow, I would like to put on the wall of the workshop
> an updated version of cash flow projections that includes the real rent
> number.
>
>
>
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