Finances; Current & Future
Seumas Bates
seems is everyone else) however specifically I am interested in the
relationship of the Club with the wider University funding scheme.
I presume that the Club receives a proportion of the University block
grant, if this is the case is anyone aware of an approximate figure as
to what we receive? This would surely play a central role in any
business plan being drafted as it will doubtless contributed a
significant portion of our income.
(Oh, and would past Committee Members please note before replying that
the distribution of the block grant was altered within the last 5
years to greatly reduce the amount paid out to all student-run campus
bodies. We might get less than in your day!)
This re-structuring was to create a development fund to which
institutions such as the Club could apply to in order to gather funds
for large-scale investment into the facilities available. I think
applying for such money should be a priority for the Club. An
injection of cash to facilitate new ideas and new developments could
be crucial in re-launching the institution.
Nick Evans
From what I've just heard from someone talking to someone who would
know, the Club got about 50,000 pounds, a recent increase, but still
did not make a profit. The university has an outside report on the
Club's finances, presumably with recommendations of turning it into
university offices or something similar. The task is to convince the
university that in these times of budget constraints that the Club
will not need university finances, so really the business plan needs
to show that a long-term profit without needing a block grant is
viable. One way is to cut costs dramatically, by cutting management
costs and ensuring that food always makes a profit. If that means that
it's basic, than that's what should happen; it could then be built up
later. The other way is to maximise revenue by increasing membership
dramatically; another 500 members means at least 7500 pounds I think,
and we could get double or treble that. The difficulty is making that
happen; I think my suggestion at Monday's meeting that having
volunteer representatives in each department (and university
residence) who will introduce the club to students, ensure that events
get into depts, help get new members, and be someone can go to if say
they want to book a room would show that we are serious about this,
especially on top of better e-mail and web communication (presumably
with someone assigned to doing this), Per person the work would not be
much. If we already have about 50-80 volunteers in place by the time
of the business plan this will show that it is possible. This
presumably is not an aspect that the outside report would have
considered.
In the short term we also need to raise a lot of money to finance
repairs; the figure I've been told is 70,000 pounds, and again the
more the Club can raise the better. Getting grants from a university
fund is good, but they are unlikely to fund most of it. Maybe if we
get all those on the Facebook page to pledge at least 10 pounds, then
we can show in the business plan that we can raise 20,000 pounds, and
with a further fundraising campaign over a year we could get another
20,000 or more with the university through it's development fund
paying the rest?
What do people think?
Nick
Omar Kooheji
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hetherington Research Club - General Discussion Group" group.
To post to this group, send an email to hetherington...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to hetheringtonclub-g...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hetheringtonclub-general?hl=en-GB.
Frank Bishop
yeah i think the pledge idea is a good one, definitely.
Re; Grants. Are you certain the club got as much money as that Nick?
Not disputing what you say but it just sounds like a lot for the club
to receive and still not turn a profit.
Has anyone made or is making provision for the clubs accountant, - or
at least an accountant to look at the clubs books to try to ascertain
what the clubs financial situation has been on the run up to this, and
exactly how it is now?
hope youre good
Frank
JohnEwing
>
> From what I've just heard from someone talking to someone who would
> know, the Club got about 50,000 pounds, a recent increase, but still
> did not make a profit. The university has an outside report on the
> Club's finances, presumably with recommendations of turning it into
> university offices or something similar. The task is to convince the
> university that in these times of budget constraints that the Club
> will not need university finances, so really the business plan needs
> to show that a long-term profit without needing a block grant is
> viable.
If the University has a fund for the student bodies then presumably
the Club is entitled to claim from it. However, I don't know how post-
grads are financed these days, so I don't know how eligible the Club
is. I won't bore you with the history of the Club's financing.
>One way is to cut costs dramatically, by cutting management
> costs and ensuring that food always makes a profit. If that means that
> it's basic, than that's what should happen; it could then be built up
> later.
Years ago, catering had to break even. We were not allowed to
subsidise catering. Nor was catering allowed to make a profit,
otherwise we would lose our VAT-exempt status.
From what I understand, the Club provides catering from 0900 to 2100.
I can't see that this is viable. I would like to see tables showing
catering takings, and the cost of sales, split into different parts of
the day. Say 0900 - 1200, 1200 - 1400, 1400 - 1700, 1700 - 1800 and
1800 to 2100. (With what I've read elsewhere, I don't think that
analysis will have been done.) I suspect that the only viable time
will be 1200 - 1400.
As regards cutting management costs: I'm not totally sure how many
jobs there are - figures are conflicting, but I'm pretty sure that the
Club is overstaffed.
> The other way is to maximise revenue by increasing membership
> dramatically; another 500 members means at least 7500 pounds I think,
> and we could get double or treble that. The difficulty is making that
> happen;
A difficulty is going to be - if they all used the Club we'd need a
bigger building. And as I understand it, catering is slow enough as it
is. Your suggestion might work as a one-off, but if people find that
they can't get served quickly, they'll vote with their feet and go
elsewhere. (This is one of the reasons I let my membership lapse,
after about 15 years or so.)
John
Omar Kooheji
Nick Evans
free building on the campus, and the idea which I've heard, that the
Club will be moved into the GUU building will be a disaster. In terms
of the view that a result of getting new members would be that there
is no space, I think it will make the place busier, and at times it
would get packed, but that would make it more likely that people will
stay on in the evening. There's been a lot of free space in the last
few years, and when you come into the Club and no one's there (more
likely upstairs), there's no atmosphere. I think that has really been
repelling people from the Club. If the top two rooms can be used
better, then that would help with space issues. From what I gather in
the last decade there have been at least 1200 members without this
causing any space problems (and I don't think the top two rooms were
used much then). Omar's point that many people will join but may not
come in much is valid.
In terms of the 50,000 pounds figure for the grant and 70,000 pounds
for repairs, they came from a brief chat with someone who I would
expect to know and who is reliable. The figures should definitely be
checked though; getting this sort of information (from the university,
and any Club accounts they hold?) is obviously crucial for getting a
reliable plan.
In response to John Ewing's interesting comments, it seems mad that
the Club had to break even but couldn't make a profit; was any surplus
money given away? Would it be better to go for getting rid of the VAT
exempt status in that case? A more limited catering service suggested
by could well be the answer, as sadly could be cutting staff cuts.
Creating a culture of volunteerism (but with a clear separation of
roles of paid and unpaid people, otherwise it will be viewed as
unfair) is also essential for getting all the interesting things
people are proposing done without incurring costs; how exactly that is
done I'm not quite sure.
Nick
Omar Kooheji
--
JohnEwing
[snip]
> In response to John Ewing's interesting comments, it seems mad that
> the Club had to break even but couldn't make a profit; was any surplus
> money given away? Would it be better to go for getting rid of the VAT
> exempt status in that case? A more limited catering service suggested
> by could well be the answer, as sadly could be cutting staff cuts.
We weren't allowed to make a loss, as the University was not allowed
to subsidise catering, and the Club was looked on a providing catering
for and on behalf of the University. This may have been related to the
VAT-exempt status. So we aimed to break even, which meant that the
prices were low.
As regards getting rid of the VAT-exempt status - with the hours
during which catering is provided, and other things, I suspect that
catering makes a very large trading loss, so it's a bit of a moot
point. If catering is making a loss, then I expect that to be
something the University will insist on being rectified, as they did
with QM years ago. And in that case, I can see full catering being
provided only at lunchtime.
John
Seumas Bates
of the day and in the evening most of the space is entirely empty. By
being creative with events and the support offered we might attract a
broader sweep of people into the building at traditionally quieter
times of the day. I think limiting catering (for example) is the wrong
move, instead lets EXPAND catering, if people aren't eating there in
the evening, let's find out why. Post-grads are the sort of people
committed enough to be on campus at all times of night and day after
all!
I also am skeptical that raising money through Facebook would work. I
wonder what proportion of the membership of that group didn't bother
to properly join the club and just got their friends to let them in?
On Mar 4, 1:53 pm, Omar Kooheji <omarkooh...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I don't think we are going to get a bigger building, there is in fact doubt
> that we will get the building we had...
>
> 500 extra members does not mean that we will be busier, it means we might be
> busier. and there is a larger number of people who might come into the club
> when it is traditionally empty.
>
> > hetheringtonclub-g...@googlegroups.com<hetheringtonclub-gene ral%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
Thomas Coles
Generally the impression has been that the HRC was established and immovable, there needs to be an engaged membership -- this is all the things we've already been talking about: more events in order to create a community.
A great resource would be to aggressively advertise and provide catering for end-of-term staff/student parties, after-conference/speaker events. For example, at the moment the University provides catering (vol au vents, wine etc) at EngLit events after their weekly visiting speaker. Standing around in the Atrium in the Medical Building is a far more unpleasant experience than it would be to use the upstairs room (if it were re-fitted a little).
Tom
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to hetheringtonclub-g...@googlegroups.com.
Sara Thomas
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 17:21:55 +0000
Subject: Re: [HetheringtonClub] Re: Finances; Current & Future
From: tomc...@gmail.com
To: hetherington...@googlegroups.com
Not got a Hotmail account? Sign-up now - Free
Omar Kooheji
Omar Kooheji
Sara Thomas
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 17:27:55 +0000
Subject: Re: [HetheringtonClub] Re: Finances; Current & Future
Chris Young
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to hetheringtonclub-g...@googlegroups.com.
Seumas Bates
Seminar with a guest speaker and I overheard two Profs lamenting the
loss of the Club.
On Mar 5, 5:25 pm, Sara Thomas <sa.tho...@live.com> wrote:
> would it be worth someone approaching some on the on-campus bodies / organisations and gauge interest in using the club for future events? a few letters of interest might be a useful thing to present to the Uni along with the business plan.
>
> Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 17:21:55 +0000
> Subject: Re: [HetheringtonClub] Re: Finances; Current & Future
> From: tomco...@gmail.com
> To: hetherington...@googlegroups.com
>
> Seumas. Anecdotally a huge percentage went that route and avoided joining up, mostly out of laziness rather than malice. Membership needs to be made more obvious / valuable. Even if it is as simple as making sure that free coffee refills (ie: buy 3 get one free etc) are tied to membership numbers?
>
> Generally the impression has been that the HRC was established and immovable, there needs to be an engaged membership -- this is all the things we've already been talking about: more events in order to create a community.
>
> A great resource would be to aggressively advertise and provide catering for end-of-term staff/student parties, after-conference/speaker events. For example, at the moment the University provides catering (vol au vents, wine etc) at EngLit events after their weekly visiting speaker. Standing around in the Atrium in the Medical Building is a far more unpleasant experience than it would be to use the upstairs room (if it were re-fitted a little).
>
> Tom
>
> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/hetheringtonclub-general?hl=en-GB.
>
> --
>
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hetherington Research Club - General Discussion Group" group.
>
> To post to this group, send an email to hetherington...@googlegroups.com.
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to hetheringtonclub-g...@googlegroups.com.
>
> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/hetheringtonclub-general?hl=en-GB.
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> We want to hear all your funny, exciting and crazy Hotmail stories. Tell us nowhttp://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/
Xuan-Linh Labbe
(even if proper menus are not on offer outside meal times, but salads
or sandwiches are still available). I don't know if it's a general
tendency, but, be it for timetable or other reasons, I found that my
fellow MSc-s don't eat at regular hours, and certainly not so often
between 12 and 2pm.
JohnEwing
> I'm certainly not in favour of cutting catering hours. If it's not reliable,
> people won't use it. Having a restricted menu, such as baked potatoes etc,
> might be an option to save shekels in the short term.
I suspect that the University might force changes in catering, like
they did with QM in 1981. And by changing, I do mean cutting hours.
There is nothing 'unreliable' about that; you just state the times at
which catering is available. If you want fed, get to the Club at these
times. As I said elsewhere, I'd be interested to know detailed
catering figures.
Sorry to be blunt about this, but pretty soon I suspect that some
unpleasant decisions will have to be made, if the Club is to continue.
Morag Hunter
On 7 Mar, 21:02, JohnEwing <j...@johnewing.co.uk> wrote:
>
> I suspect that the University might force changes in catering, like
> they did with QM in 1981. And by changing, I do mean cutting hours.
> There is nothing 'unreliable' about that; you just state the times at
> which catering is available. If you want fed, get to the Club at these
> times. As I said elsewhere, I'd be interested to know detailed
> catering figures.
>
> Sorry to be blunt about this, but pretty soon I suspect that some
> unpleasant decisions will have to be made, if the Club is to continue.
I have to agree with John. The reality is that the club was
overstaffed (and by this I mean that there were too many people behind
the bar/in the kitchen). I never could understand how the club could
afford so many people. It's now obvious that it could not.
I also think that any business plan must be financially viable without
relying on any hand out from the University. As the club was losing a
lot of money even with a substantial grant, a lot of paring back is
going to be necessary.
I am probably asking this in the wrong place, but does anyone know who
holds the licence for the club?
Omar Kooheji
the signatured license holder, probably the hon sec.
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Hetherington Research Club - General Discussion Group" group.
> To post to this group, send an email to
> hetherington...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> hetheringtonclub-g...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/hetheringtonclub-general?hl=en-GB.
>
>
--
Sent from my mobile device