The financial side of running a group is something I usually steer away from entirely, but I thought it was worth putting down a few words about how the ARC group operates.
With the recent move to Unley, the group no longer has a hall cost to cover. Of that we’re extremely pleased. Our initial reaction was to drop the $4 door charge entirely, but there are other factors to consider. If we lose the door charge, we also lose any revenue stream that might help us grow the group and make future events more interesting for everyone.
The ARC committee (consisting of Nick, George, Rowan, Ewan and myself) are all volunteers who in the past have put our own time and money into keeping things running smoothly. There are however expenses that come up from time to time that we can’t always afford to cover ourselves. These include having signage printed, registering as a community organisation, paying for web hosting, securing guest speakers, materials and prizes for an upcoming quiz night, end of year BBQ, flyers, possibly purchasing an eftpos machine to name a few.
We’ve also had the problem at Eastwood that many attendees were not always paying the door fee (we rely on people doing the right thing here). This means that we’re nearly always running on fumes. In fact Nick, our chairman, has had to reach into his own pocket on occasion to cover the hall hire cost. I’ve donated a bunch of my own equipment, software etc to the for-sale table to raise funds for our registering as a community organisation. A few weeks ago we had an Amiga 500 system generously donated to the group. We think its important that such donations should benefit the group as a whole, so after we discussed various options, the committee decided that we would auction it off at our September event with all of the proceeds going towards the group’s expenses outlined above. We’re not sure an auction is always going to be the right solution, but we’ll give it a go and see how it turns out.
Regarding a door charge, September’s event will still be free, but after that we might have to start charging again. It’s a subject that the committee is still debating, but we’ll let you know what we decide very soon.
If anyone has any concerns or questions about any of this, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’re still feeling our way around all of this, but its all in service of making the ARC group the best it can be, for all of our members.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all at our next meeting.
Best regards,
Dan
