Budget Questions for 2008-09

Budget Questions for 2008-09

QUESTIONS FOR ALL

Would you be willing to have club members volunteer in the community to earn additional funds from the RCC?

If you have a significant increase in your budget – how do you justify this increase? (significant being over 25% more than you were funded last year)

If you requested funds for help with website development – would you be willing to use a shared resource person and have a template developed for the Rec Clubs webpages and then training for maintaining the website?

If you requested funds for a retreat – would you be willing to do a reserve request next year after you have determined your agenda and plans for the retreat?

INDIVIDUAL CLUB QUESTIONS

Aikido

Would you be willing to have club members volunteer in the community to earn additional funds from the RCC?

I think the concept is fantastic. Some of our club members would probably be willing to do this.

If you have a significant increase in your budget – how do you justify this increase? (significant being over 25% more than you were funded last year)

see responses to individual club questions

If you requested funds for help with website development – would you be willing to use a shared resource person and have a template developed for the Rec Clubs web pages and then training for maintaining the website?

N/A

If you requested funds for a retreat – would you be willing to do a reserve request next year after you have determined your agenda and plans for the retreat?

N/A

Aikido QUESTIONS

How do you justify this increase in budget from last year?

The primary increase lies in our request for compensation for our instructor, Quin. When I took on role as President of the club last April I had only a few days to compile a budget and was not familiar with the process for requesting coaching salary. Previous presidents had never made the request. Also, when I submitted the budget for 2007-2008 I thought I was submitting it only for Fall Term. I learned in the budget hearing that it was to have included all budget requests for the following school year; by that point it was too late to make any changes.

Q Why do the seminars cost more this year than last year?

In the 2007-2008 budget I requested $100 each for three seminars, with the estimate that each would cost $50 per person so that a couple of club members could go. After reviewing with Quin and Portland Aikikai, who host the seminars, I have confirmed current rates are approx $65 per person; also, we had more interest in the seminars than we had anticipated, and wanted to make it possible for more members to attend. This is an area we are willing to compromise in, for example if the budget committee is only able to fund 2 of the 3 seminars, or to do so for 3 instead of 5 students.

What is the benefit of these seminars?

Portland Aikikai is a more formal dojo than we have available to us at PortlandState. Seminars can include more advanced technique then we cover in club practices, and are an opportunity to learn from instructors from all over the world as well as to meet other practitioners in the Portland area.

Please comply with the RCC Budget Request Policies – RCC

In reviewing the RCC Budget Request Policies, I can see that requesting compensation for our instructor under “honorarium” is not necessarily appropriate, since he instructs during each practice; however requesting salary under “coaching” requires that we have been a club in good standing at least 2 years. If our instructor’s compensation must be filed under “coaching,” I would like to appeal the 2-year requirement due to the fact that we were a club in good standing for several years and despite issues with 2006-2007 compliance, we have again maintained good standing during 2007-2008. I have attached our 2008-2009 budget request with compensation for our instructor under “coaching” rather than “honorarium.” We are willing to compromise here, if the budget committee is only able to approve a smaller amount for his salary.

Coaches/Instructor Policy (see attachment in email) and submit necessary documentation.

I previously submitted a detailed job description and our instructor’s qualifications. We do not have competitions (Aikido is not a competitive art), however we do work on skill development. I have re-submitted the job description along with the other documents in this email.

Can you explain why you need to pay the coach this year if he was willing to volunteer last year?

Our instructor has volunteered his time in the past because of his connection with club participants (as their instructor in PSU’s Aikido classes). Previous club presidents have not requested budget because they were unaware of the possibility, or procedures for doing so. Rightly, salary for coaching should have been requested long ago. For safety reasons, in order for our club to practice we require trained instruction.

- Most important thing for club is to pay the coach

Badminton

QUESTIONS FOR BADMINTON

QWhy are shuttecocks listed under both competitive budget and event fees? Why do you need so many shuttlecocks?

We have to review our budget to answer this exactly. It sounded like there is confusion because we try to separate shuttlecocks depending on their usage. In general, it is the nature of the sport that feather shuttlecocks have better trajectory but die quickly unfortunately. That’s why we always try to mix and match nylon shuttlecocks and feather ones to lower costs. For tournaments, we decide to use feather shuttles to maintain the competitive atmosphere. For regular practices, we keep shuttlecocks that have acceptable condition in a bucket and keep using them until they completely wear out.

QHave you considered charging dues to your students? Why or why not?

We don't because most students (residents and international) are not that familiar with the sport at all and won't tryit if we charge them. Our long-term goal is to provide opportunities for PSU students to enjoy competitive badminton as a part of their university life. Giving up student fees has gained us a large group of committed, motivated regulars; that’s why we want to keep this incentive to attract potential students.

QHow much are dues for your non-PSU students?

Non-PSU student fees change every quarter depending on the numberof Sunday practices. We charge per-term so that we don't have peopledropping in and out and filling up too much court space. Our goal isto have badminton community members that enhance the club. On average, it works out around $2-$3 per session. That price is based on what it would cost them to use other facilities in Portland that offer the same service that we do.

For example, this term, we charge $20 for non-PSU students and $10 for alumni. We always try our best to adjust the fees to be fair and reasonable to everyone.

QWhy are you covering meals for one-day travel?

Because the tournament usuallylasts from 9am-6pm on a Saturday and there isn't a convenient place nearby for our members to eat quickly. Participants are stuck in the gym to wait for their turn. We leave early in the morning so some people might miss breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

In the past, most of our members bring their own lunch, but miss breakfast and have a late dinner. It would be a nice and organized trip if we can cover at least one meal to our members.

(Only PSU-student members are eligible to ride on the van and have this benefit. Non-PSU members are by their own.)Breakin

Please comply with the RCC Budget Request Policies – RCC Personal Item Funding & Uniform Policies (see attachment in email) and submit necessary documentation. Please explain how the t-shirts purchased by the club meet these policy requirements.

What qualifications are required of the judges at the competition?

Why do you need to pay so much for an out of state performer?

Why are the wood and paint supply costs different for Juice Jam 2 than the Love Bazzar?

For Juice Jam 2 – you will need to cover the costs of the event before giving money to charity. What are your plans to do this? Do you need a noise permit or anything other than port a poty and rental space?

Crew

Viking Crew ‘08-’09 Budget Request Questions

QUESTIONS FOR ALL

Would you be willing to have club members volunteer in the community to earn additional funds from the RCC?

We would absolutely be willing to volunteer in order to receive additional funding.

If you have a significant increase in your budget – how do you justify this increase? (significant being over 25% more than you were funded last year)

Ours is not a significant increase.

N/A

If you requested funds for a retreat – would you be willing to do a reserve request next year after you have determined your agenda and plans for the retreat?

N/A

CREW

Please comply with the RCC Budget Request Policies – RCC Coaches/Instructor Policy & Student Stipend Policy (see attachment in email) and submit necessary documentation.

This will be sent separately from the following questions.

Is the vice-president position a new position?What has changed that necessitates two paid stipend positions? Why this year and not previous years?

In the past, our club has been run with two leaders; a president and vice-president. For the past two years, our club has used specific coordinator positions; head, fundraising, finance, and equipment. So in a way, the vice-president position is new.

The coordinator positions have worked relatively well but due to confusion in job descriptions and what each individual is responsible for, we feel that this confusion would be reduced if there were only two coordinators. This would also make meetings easier to schedule and allow for smoother operation of the club. It is difficult to get four very busy students together to plan for events and regattas. We feel that tasks would be dealt with in a timelier manner with two, rather than four, coordinators. We are requesting stipends this year because the work load for our coordinators has increased. In the past, our coach took care of a lot of the administrative work that now falls on the coordinators. A lot of time is put into running this club; from paperwork, to fundraising, to preparing for regattas, to making flyers for recruitment or events, to cold calling churches for lodging or local businesses for sponsorship. We feel that in consideration of the increased time devoted to club leadership, it is fair to request student stipends.

What are the $9,600 Travel Expenses for competition? What does this cover? How is this different from the $6,100 event travel?

The $9,600 in travel expenses for competition covers the transportation costs (two 12 seat vans, $140 per day), gasoline costs for the vans and the boat trailer tow vehicle (varies depending on market and destination), lodging (two to three rooms, $250-$500 per night), and food costs (about $100 per day to feed 20 rowers). This is not different from the $6,100 in event travel. The spreadsheet made for the budget did not have sufficient rows to include all the line items needed. We added more rows and the formula in the ‘total’ cell did not compensate. We attempted to correct the formula but that cell was locked and could not be changed. The total should be $9,600.

What are the mandatory event fees of $4,825? What does this cover? How is this different from the competition entry fees that total $2,125?

The event fees cover the regatta entry fees. These are the fees required to enter boats in events at a specific regatta. These fees vary depending on the regatta and size of the boats being entered. They can range anywhere from just $10 per person at small local regattas to $25 dollars per person at large regattas. Or it can be per boat you enter, such as, $65 for a 4+ and $105 for an 8+. These values should not be different from each other. The same problem occurred as stated above in question 2. The correct value is $4,825.

Why are you planning for 25 travelers when you only have 15 currently active members?

As a growing club, we try every year to recruit new rowers. It is not unlikely that we will take on 10+ new rowers in the fall. It would be unwise to prepare a budget that did not plan for the expansion of our club. If we only budgeted for 15 rowers and then achieved a roster of 30 in the fall we would not have the means for everyone to race and we would not be able to attend all of the regattas we scheduled.

What are your recruiting plans to meet these participation numbers? How do you plan to retain them? How does this differ from previous years?

In the past, we have mainly relied on events such as Party in the Park as our sole recruitment opportunity and then relied on word of mouth from our rowers. For this coming year, we have decided that this is not sufficient to reach the numbers we want on the team. We still plan to use Party in the Park as our main recruitment opportunity but to supplement with smaller events. These include tables in the park blocks twice a week for the first 3 weeks of every term. Attending the midnight breakfast, putting up fliers, and actively recruiting members in our own classes are other means of recruiting we plan to use. We are also in the process of making rowing a class through the Physical Education department. This will take a while to put in place but once up and running we will recruit students from the class who show an interest in competing.

We know that we need to work on team building exercises to increase the retention of our club. Next year we want to build a better sense of team in our rowers by having more out of practice social events, such as, bowling, game nights, team breakfasts after practice, and team dinners before every home regatta. We hope that doing more activities outside of rowing will help build stronger friendships and therefore, a stronger team.

In previous years, we have not had many events outside of practice to come together as a team, especially this year. We are going to rectify this in the coming year.

WIRA - The club typically does not have students that meet eligibility standards for this event. At most a 4 – how do you justify $1,000 in entry fees + travel expenses for this event?

Our club, while still welcoming graduate students and other ineligible members, is starting to focus on building a core group of full-time students who are eligible to compete at WIRA and in hopes of one day becoming a varsity sport at PSU. WIRA is an amazing opportunity for eligible athletes and is one of the highlights of the year. This is the regatta that is the culmination of all of the hard work our eligible rowers have put in. This is their chance to prove how far they have come. WIRA is an expensive regatta as far as travel and entry fees but it is something that all the rowers look forward to, even the ineligible rowers. We can actually see how we stack up against other programs.

Also, teams must pay yearly dues to WIRA regardless of whether they compete that year or not. If the dues are not paid, then teams risk losing their membership with WIRA. If membership lapses, it can be very difficult to regain and it usually involves a lengthy petition process. So we do need to pay our membership dues to WIRA. We have chosen to keep up with our membership dues and budget for at least a small group to attend WIRA. We have at least eight returning members that will be eligible and with recruitment there will be enough eligible rowers to make attending WIRA worthwhile.

Can the team work on getting sponsorships for next year? What are your plans for this?

The team can definitely work on getting sponsorships for next year. However, we have found it difficult in the past to find monetary sponsorship. We can, however, work on getting sponsorship for local businesses for food at local, and potentially out of town, regattas. This would help with food costs.

Travel – we do not allow 15 passenger vans does this change travel costs? Why did you put in money for lodging when on the questionnaire and in practice you stay in churches?

We were unaware that 15 seat passenger vans were not allowed, however, in our budget request we used the cost associated with the 12 seat vans we used this year so it would not change the travel costs.