Post by Kaine Chandler on Jan 26, 2014 18:55:49 GMT -8
(Synopsis at the bottom)
The Background:
As you all know, last year we had a rent/fundraising crisis which resulted in a community-wide vote on how best to ensure the rent gets paid. The result was option #2, which stated that should our bank funds ever drop below 1 month's rent (700$) we would institute a required pay-to-enter policy (not pay to play, as people could still have characters, do emails and midweeks etc and would be welcome into the playspace as soon as they showed up with $$).
If you want to read the full text on that, please follow this link,
How to pay the rent Options
However, there was some confusion/concern as to when such a mandatory payment would be lifted. There is no provision for lifting the mandatory payment policy once it has been instituted in the option as it is written. So we would like to open a discussion and then have a vote on ammending this policy to include a goal at which we would return to voluntary donations.
To make it clear, we are NOT instituting mandatory pay at this time. Our finances are fine right now (Dec financial report), and there will be plenty of warning if we get into a danger zone.
However, I feel it is best to have the discussion and the vote well before we enter a danger zone or have to institute mandatory payment. I meant to start this thread back in December, but as you may also be aware, we suffered a community tradgedy with the loss of one of our players immediately after the result of the original vote was known, and quite frankly, I just haven't been up to it. Sorry and thank you for understanding.
This discussion should be centered around what a goal for stopping mandatory payments would be and why.
Once we have a few well-reasoned and supported options, we will have another game-wide vote and the policy will be officially ammended.
The Possible Options:
Avoid the Yo-Yo:
I would like to start by saying, I do not think the goal should simply be 700$. This could easily result in a yo-yo effect wherein some weeks we have mandatory payment and some we don't, and keeping up with the changes would be difficult.
Example: On the 30th of the month we have $1300. Right after paying rent on the 1st, we drop to $600 and lo, mandatory payments begin. We make $150 that night and boom, we're back at $750 and the next week it stops. But, we only raise another $600 the rest of the month, and so we're at $1350 at the end of the month, and back to $650 as soon as rent is paid. Rinse, repeat. Yo-yo.
Not only do players need to be prepared to pay when they come to game, but NOTR volunteers need to be able to set up the table and money tracking in a very different way for mandatory payment than for voluntary. Volunteers will need to be at the table the entire night, instead of only a few hours, track those who have paid, pre-paid, or are being covered by others/pooled funds, or are given a pass because they've volunteered for the table. (again, see the link for all the details). This is too much to go through just for a couple games, then have to go through it again a month later for a couple more games...
See the Big Picture:
Next, I would like to share with you our annual budget so that we can see what a reasonable safe bank looks like.
We pay 700$ a month for rent from October through May, which is 8 months. If the weather is mild it might be less, but we PLAN for 8 months because the winters are getting more severe each year. We budget $1500 for the haunted house each year, but this is based on how many players ask for how much reimbursement from NOTR (not how much money they actually spent) so the last couple years have been closer to 1100-1200. We also like to be able to reimburse Chris for the website whenever we can, but this isn't part of the official buget, its just something to think about.
This makes our annual buget (defined as the max we spend, cause that's how responsible bugets are made) $7,100.
Meaning it would be reasonable to put the MAX number for when to return to vountary payments at $7000. Now, I think that's excessive personally, but it gives us a maximum end bench mark from which to consider the issue and find the middle ground.
Find the Middle Path:
We need a dollar amount that will keep us from yo-yoing, and let us stay in the black for a reasonable amount of time after voluntary payment is reinstated, but we also don't want to set the bar so high that we can never achieve it.
That being said, I think the two "middle ground" options could be rent x3 ($2100) & half the annual buget ($3500), both achieved after the closest month's rent has been paid (eg, if we hit "goal" in the last week of the month, we don't count that because its too close to rent paying time)
Rent x3
We raised $2500 in the month of November, so I do know it is possible to quickly raise rent x3, and that this goal could mean the mandatory payment policy was in place for as little as a month, while providing at least 3, but more like 6 months of future security (assuming voluntary donations don't vanish entirely)
Half the annual buget:
This might mean mandatory payments would be in place for 2-3 months, however, it would ensure 6 months of bill paying and half the HH buget. The advantage here is that we could potentially do all our fundraising twice a year for 2 months at a time instead of constantly being worried about money. Maybe we could even shut the table down altogether over the summer, or over the christmas holidays to give people a break from the nagging. The disadvantage is it will take longer to reach, meaning those who will not participate (i do not say cannot because there are options galore for the financially disadvantaged, see the link above or the discussion on the original vote where other players offered sponsorships) will be away from game longer.
The Synopsis:
1x rent ($700) unreasonably low to be a valid option (the yo-yo)
3x rent ($2,100) potential option 1
half annual budget ($3,500) potential option 2
Annual budget ($7,000) is unreasonably high to be a valid option
Dollar amounts should reflect impending rent: from the last week of the month until the check has cleared, bank totals should be counted as -700 for the purposes of reaching this goal.
Discuss!
These aren't set in stone. This is a place to have a discussion and decide what the options we will vote on will be. The final ammendment WILL BE VOTED ON! So put your thinkin caps on, remember to follow all the rules of conduct, and let us know what you want to see in the voting options and why.
This is NOT a place to discuss whether or not there should be mandatory payments. Don't do it. We already had that discussion and that vote. Now is the time for moving forward, so please limit your responses to the topic at hand: what dollar amount should be reached before we return to voluntary donations, and don't be a smartbunny and suggest any amount under $700, that's not constructive.
Thank you
Kaine, NOTR
The Background:
As you all know, last year we had a rent/fundraising crisis which resulted in a community-wide vote on how best to ensure the rent gets paid. The result was option #2, which stated that should our bank funds ever drop below 1 month's rent (700$) we would institute a required pay-to-enter policy (not pay to play, as people could still have characters, do emails and midweeks etc and would be welcome into the playspace as soon as they showed up with $$).
If you want to read the full text on that, please follow this link,
How to pay the rent Options
However, there was some confusion/concern as to when such a mandatory payment would be lifted. There is no provision for lifting the mandatory payment policy once it has been instituted in the option as it is written. So we would like to open a discussion and then have a vote on ammending this policy to include a goal at which we would return to voluntary donations.
To make it clear, we are NOT instituting mandatory pay at this time. Our finances are fine right now (Dec financial report), and there will be plenty of warning if we get into a danger zone.
However, I feel it is best to have the discussion and the vote well before we enter a danger zone or have to institute mandatory payment. I meant to start this thread back in December, but as you may also be aware, we suffered a community tradgedy with the loss of one of our players immediately after the result of the original vote was known, and quite frankly, I just haven't been up to it. Sorry and thank you for understanding.
This discussion should be centered around what a goal for stopping mandatory payments would be and why.
Once we have a few well-reasoned and supported options, we will have another game-wide vote and the policy will be officially ammended.
The Possible Options:
Avoid the Yo-Yo:
I would like to start by saying, I do not think the goal should simply be 700$. This could easily result in a yo-yo effect wherein some weeks we have mandatory payment and some we don't, and keeping up with the changes would be difficult.
Example: On the 30th of the month we have $1300. Right after paying rent on the 1st, we drop to $600 and lo, mandatory payments begin. We make $150 that night and boom, we're back at $750 and the next week it stops. But, we only raise another $600 the rest of the month, and so we're at $1350 at the end of the month, and back to $650 as soon as rent is paid. Rinse, repeat. Yo-yo.
Not only do players need to be prepared to pay when they come to game, but NOTR volunteers need to be able to set up the table and money tracking in a very different way for mandatory payment than for voluntary. Volunteers will need to be at the table the entire night, instead of only a few hours, track those who have paid, pre-paid, or are being covered by others/pooled funds, or are given a pass because they've volunteered for the table. (again, see the link for all the details). This is too much to go through just for a couple games, then have to go through it again a month later for a couple more games...
See the Big Picture:
Next, I would like to share with you our annual budget so that we can see what a reasonable safe bank looks like.
We pay 700$ a month for rent from October through May, which is 8 months. If the weather is mild it might be less, but we PLAN for 8 months because the winters are getting more severe each year. We budget $1500 for the haunted house each year, but this is based on how many players ask for how much reimbursement from NOTR (not how much money they actually spent) so the last couple years have been closer to 1100-1200. We also like to be able to reimburse Chris for the website whenever we can, but this isn't part of the official buget, its just something to think about.
This makes our annual buget (defined as the max we spend, cause that's how responsible bugets are made) $7,100.
Meaning it would be reasonable to put the MAX number for when to return to vountary payments at $7000. Now, I think that's excessive personally, but it gives us a maximum end bench mark from which to consider the issue and find the middle ground.
Find the Middle Path:
We need a dollar amount that will keep us from yo-yoing, and let us stay in the black for a reasonable amount of time after voluntary payment is reinstated, but we also don't want to set the bar so high that we can never achieve it.
That being said, I think the two "middle ground" options could be rent x3 ($2100) & half the annual buget ($3500), both achieved after the closest month's rent has been paid (eg, if we hit "goal" in the last week of the month, we don't count that because its too close to rent paying time)
Rent x3
We raised $2500 in the month of November, so I do know it is possible to quickly raise rent x3, and that this goal could mean the mandatory payment policy was in place for as little as a month, while providing at least 3, but more like 6 months of future security (assuming voluntary donations don't vanish entirely)
Half the annual buget:
This might mean mandatory payments would be in place for 2-3 months, however, it would ensure 6 months of bill paying and half the HH buget. The advantage here is that we could potentially do all our fundraising twice a year for 2 months at a time instead of constantly being worried about money. Maybe we could even shut the table down altogether over the summer, or over the christmas holidays to give people a break from the nagging. The disadvantage is it will take longer to reach, meaning those who will not participate (i do not say cannot because there are options galore for the financially disadvantaged, see the link above or the discussion on the original vote where other players offered sponsorships) will be away from game longer.
The Synopsis:
1x rent ($700) unreasonably low to be a valid option (the yo-yo)
3x rent ($2,100) potential option 1
half annual budget ($3,500) potential option 2
Annual budget ($7,000) is unreasonably high to be a valid option
Dollar amounts should reflect impending rent: from the last week of the month until the check has cleared, bank totals should be counted as -700 for the purposes of reaching this goal.
Discuss!
These aren't set in stone. This is a place to have a discussion and decide what the options we will vote on will be. The final ammendment WILL BE VOTED ON! So put your thinkin caps on, remember to follow all the rules of conduct, and let us know what you want to see in the voting options and why.
This is NOT a place to discuss whether or not there should be mandatory payments. Don't do it. We already had that discussion and that vote. Now is the time for moving forward, so please limit your responses to the topic at hand: what dollar amount should be reached before we return to voluntary donations, and don't be a smartbunny and suggest any amount under $700, that's not constructive.
Thank you
Kaine, NOTR
