President’s Message – Jan/Feb 2009

I got involved with this organization to understand how it works. I have discovered that it works on volunteers, and it works best if the volunteers get a discount for their time at the symposia. It is a way to let the volunteers know that they are appreciated. There are only so many trophies you can hand out – not nearly enough.

I feel we have burned-out some exceptional people by asking them to do too much for too little in return. As a board member and the current Prez, I say thank you for your previous work on our behalf, and I am sorry. Heart-felt, late, and only a promise to try to do better in the future.

When I first came to these symposia at Camp-B in 2002 there was about a 3:1, student to staff ratio. It made for a rich compelling experience. With around 90 people, for ten days, 30 staff members were given discounts. That is like an Ivy League university or a good Montessori school. I didn’t feel over charged.

I have also learned that our journal, that we sell for $30 a year, costs about $35 to print. And membership at $60 a year costs about $100 a year with administrative costs.

As far as symposium costs go, I know that to raise $1000 from 100 attendees over 10 days you need to get a buck a day. To raise the same $1000 from 50 people over 5 days you need to make $4 a day. That’s twice the price for half the time.

In the past, Camp-B was run as a fund-raiser for this organization. That was how we came to accrue reserves. Recently we have been trying to run our symposia as totally nonprofit endeavors. As with every single nonprofit theater group I have worked on, if you budget to break-even at 100% capacity, you will lose money every time.

So, it is a question of balance. How can we have a compelling program, giving discounts to acknowledge our volunteers, and still make money?

I am hoping that we stay large and long and that we budget to make a profit for the continued operation of this organization.

-Tom Francis

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(206)634-1070