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G4EBT > RSGB 15.08.07 01:33l 159 Lines 5795 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 0B6249G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Half year accounts - grim reading:-(
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<DK0WUE<GB7FCR
Sent: 070815/0017Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:40981 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:0B6249G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : RSGB@WW
RSGB is sometimes unkindly referred to as "Radio Society Going Bust".
Many a true word is spoken in jest. RSGB's half-yearly accounts
have been published in Radcom, and they make grim reading again:
They show a half-yr deficit of œ38,000 compared to last year's at this
stage - œ18,560, which was quite bad enough, given that in 2006 there
was a half year sponsorship of œ24,800 and last half year œ20,000.
Here are a few highlights ("spotlights" might be a better term):
Advertising income:
30 June 2007 30 June 2006 Worse by
œ78,694 œ84,581 œ5,887 (7%)
Amateur Radio Costs (whatever that means) net of sponsorship:
30 June 2007 30 June 2006 Worse by
œ56,393 œ51,375 œ5,018 (9.8%)
Cost of GB4FUN mobile shack net of sponsorship:
30 June 2007 30 June 2006 Worse by
œ5,321 œ4,906 œ415 (8.5%)
Sponsorship:
30 June 2007 30 June 2006
œ24,800 œ20,000
I mentioned in a bull back in April about the dubious cost-effectiveness
of GB4FUN - RSGB's Mobile shack which is available to promote the hobby.
The bland statement in Radcom gives no indication of the effectiveness of
the cost/benefit GB4FUN and isn't reassuring. The accounts don't indicate
in sufficient detail where the sponsorship has come from.
It lumps it all together and says:
"The Society received sponsorship from the Radiocommunications Foundation
to support the running costs of GB4FUN and from ICOM to support the IOTA
programme".
Last years RSGB's annual accounts make no mention of GB4FUN's operating
costs either - only that it had a donation of œ40,000 from the charitable
Radio Communications Fund.
That the RSGB is trying to promote the hobby is a laudable, but there must
surely be a cost/benefit analysis to justify the considerable expense
involved with GB4FUN.
Or maybe RSGB takes the view that if people give it money, it has to spend
it on something, so why not on GB4FUN, or to keep itself in the style to
which it's become accustomed at Potters Bar?
Speaking of which:
2007 2006 Worse by
Commercial costs 77,427 65,744 11,683 (17.8%)
Admin costs 184,023 171,196 12,827 (7.5%)
Landlord costs 28,314 25,331 2,983 (11.8%)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bottom line:
2007 2006 worse by
Net deficit YTD 38,205 18,560 19,645 (106%)
I assume that the RSGB has a budget and business plan.
If so, I wonder if the above figures are in line with expectations.
I hope not.
Neither do I know if any alarm bells are ringing at Potters Bar or with
the membership on what looks a pretty dire set of figures. I think that if
this was a commercial organisation subject to the normal rigours of the
market place there'd need to be an urgent, detailed and serious review of
the strategic direction.
At some point RSGB really must review whether it can afford to stay at
Potters Bar - most small outfits would have had staff working from home
long before now - not travelling into an HQ in North London.
GB4FUN - Big White Van or Big White Elephant?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As to GB4FUN, I'd said in April commenting on the last full year RSGB
accounts, that one way to look at the (questionable) effectiveness is
to see how many days and at what venues GB4FUN is in use.
Helpfully, this info is on the GB4FUN website.
The bookings (as at April) in the calendar go from Jan-August this year.
I haven't bothered to check the up to date position but I did extrapolate
for a full year.
Here are the number of days in use this year, and the number of venues:
Month No of days in use No of venues
Jan 2 1
Feb 6 2
Mar 6 5
April 9 5
May 10 5
June 13 6 (Inc 6 days TBC in N.I)
July 4 2
Aug 1 1
Total 51 37
Source: http://www.gb4fun.org/calendar/june.html
If we "annualise" the above usage and assume that the months of Sept-Dec
will average a similar level, 51 days/8 months x 12 months = 77 days for
the year.
If we do likewise with the number of venues we get 37/8 x 12 = 56 venues.
We've no idea of GB4FUN's actual costs as RSGB Annual Accounts don't make
this clear. All they do is to mention a œ40,000 donation in the last year.
No idea if this œ40k is just a contribution or covers the full amount -
fuel, tyres, servicing insurance, tax, depreciation etc. The best case
scenario is that the œ40,000 covered the total operating cost.
If that's so, it equates to œ520 per day, or œ714 per venue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RSGB might say they can't easily evaluate the effectiveness of GB4FUN
as it's sowing the seeds of interest which may not immediately take root.
But at least it should be able to monitor how many people who *do* take up
the hobby would otherwise not have known about the hobby or taken up had
GB4FUN not visited them.
Maybe RSGB don't want to look too closely at this because it might reveal
an awful truth - that the big white van is really a big white elephant.
RSGB can't really count those who come into the hobby who've never seen
GB4FUN and don't even know what it is.
It seems to me that GB4FUN is such a big expense that if it were subjected
to a realistic cost/benefit analysis, it would very quickly be QRT and off
the road.
Best wishes
David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
(ex RSGB 30 yrs).
Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 00:32 on 2007-Aug-15
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