[JONAT] Costs and revenue

[Mark Stephenson]

Bob,

I sympathize with you, really. I've put together tours for our club.
Dick Hile and I actually spent a bunch of time putting together a 1000
miler to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and had less that ten cars
RSVP affirmatively. Time was the factor for most. No one wanted to take
a day or so off work. Fortunately, we had no memorabilia. The only cost
was our time. As the day approached and a few people dropped out
reducing the number down to five, I was really disappointed, but you
know what? It turned out great. With only five cars (two being Dick and
I -- 9 people total), we didn't have to worry about people getting lost.
What one experienced, we all experienced. We could all fit around a
table for meals. Early on, when I realized that there weren't going to
be that many takers, the weight of trying to arrange special room rates
was lifted. 

One of the best parts of the trip, for me, was the ability, on the spur
of the moment, to take a detour into a Hopi (indian) village that I had
visited twenty-five years earlier. I couldn't have done that with twenty
cars -- they wouldn't have fit! So we put on a mini car show and the
villagers came out with kachinas, sand paintings, and drawings for sale.
I bought some partly because they are excellent artists, and partly
because they were so hospitable.

The three people who joined Dick and I raved about what a great time
they had, and we spent a lot of time the final evening speculating about
routes to take in the future. (For pictures, see
http://www.jcca.us/Articles/NRimPr02/INDEX.HTM.) JONAT filled the bill
nicely. Too bad it falls on a college reunion year which means my wife
and I don't have as much vacation time to travel farther. In two years
we may be able to go farther.

Remember, charity is what you can afford. If we are going to do this
again, we should save a couple thousand to cover the advance costs plus
whatever it costs to formally organize. Whatever's left goes to charity.
That's how our club works it.

This is the first year. JONAT is not a recognized organization. The
organizers are unknown. We're behind (i.e. most of the stuff we're
talking about should have been decided 3-6 months ago). We have no major
sponsors. But other than the license plates, we have no costs to speak
of. If we have five sign ups per sector (30, right?), we will not have
any problem covering costs. It will be much easier next time.

So, although I started my previous post on a note of frustration, I hope
I ended up sounding positive.

Mark - AZ (only North if you're in Mexico ;->)

-----Original Message-----
From: jonat-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:jonat-admin@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Bob
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2004 7:15 AM
To: jonat@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: [JONAT] Costs and revenue

Mark

You are right on a number of counts, but I disagree on others.  Keep in
mind, I'm an Engineer not an accountant, and forced into putting a
budget together as no-one else would volunteer.  The budget was reviewed
by others, but you can blame me for it 100%.

I did want to clarify one thing though.  The $5000 I mentioned in my
e-mail was seed money for printing the plates, not an out-of-pocket
amount for low participation.  Sorry if I mislead you on this - my
better half would kill me if I dropped $5k on this event!

Also, keep in mind as we move along we are refining the costs.  For
example, we have some legal advice (yesterday) that indicated rather
than register as a non-profit (not a charity) (registering as a charity
is about $300 by the way, this is info from late Tuesday) with
participants, we're best to be an association with members.  Although
this is in Canada only, it still is a pretty darn good saving, which
would mean additional $ to charity.

I haven't heard anyone mention charity yet (including me), lets not
forget this aspect.

Bob England