January 24, 2024 Breakfast Meeting Notes

 

Guests Erica Labella and Scott Weden

 

Tony trivia: More miscellaneous NH and Rotary Trivia.

 

The 50/50 was won by Russ, who donated to Tom’s tip.

 

Tony won the chance to draw in the card game but pulled the Jack of clubs. The game continues.

 

Today’s event was a club forum.

 

Ken gave us an update on club finances. Each year the club brings in about $8000. Club dues and Super Bowl Squares are the largest sources of income. Breakfast and card games also contribute to our coffers, as do happy dollars and Changing of the Guard dinner sales. The expenses are Rotary International dues, district dues, Changing of the Guard expenses, and smaller items like ClubRunner, card game payouts, PETS, and others. We are on a cash basis, so in some years we pay Changing of the Guard expenses to the Common Man in June, while in other years we don’t pay until July,. As a result we may have two charges in one year and none in the year before or after. We bring in enough in dues to pay for Rotary International and district dues and other administrative expenses. The Rotary International bill of $1080 for the next 6 months was just paid.

 

Steve gave us a report on the Foundation finances. First he present the Common Man for Ukraine report comparing the current fiscal year, which started in July, to the previous year. We took in about $553,000 and spent about $108,000 on administrative costs, largely communications. The fund has used Michael Hendrich to do our publicity and we were paying him $16,000 per month initially, which has decreased to $12,000 per month. His services have generated a lot of publicity in national TV and publications. We were on CBS national news once, Boston TV and radio multiple times, and Rotary magazine twice.  

 

As for Common Man for Ukraine disbursements, we sent $120,000 in assistance to Poland and still have about $450,000 in the bank. That money is going to go to Poland to fund the food program and the our trauma program (the latter costs $35,000 per month). The trauma program  is prepaid through February and we will prepay 10 months’ worth after that. Warehouses are empty of food now and food costs us is $80,000 per month. Each month we are a little behind on covering our costs. In total the fund raised $1 million last year, of which $200,000 went to marketing and promoting.

 

In addition to the Common Man for Ukraine funds, we have approximately $69,000 for other projects. This is divided between $60,000 in a Vanguard interest-bearing account and $11,000 in Meredith Village Savings Bank checking. There are some other expenses coming up, such as $3600 that we still owe for the Styrofoam project. Once those expenses have been paid, we  should have $50,000 left. There is some other money, such as $1500 in Mask Up, and Steve suggested that we use this money to offset deficits in other areas.

 

Last year we had $82,000 in funds, compared to $71,000 now. Our Penny Sale grand prizes grossed us $3200 this year and Rotarian sales were $2225, leaving us short by about $1000. S We made $1100 on the Hometown Holiday Parade but in total we are about $6000 behind last year’s take. Steve noted that the current year is only half over and we have time to make up this deficit by working on other donors to the annual fund. For example, Plymouth State University will probably give us $1000. 

 

Recent and/or upcoming expenses included support for the families burned out in Campton, the donations to the senior center, and various youth donations. We allocated $12,000 for scholarships in the last year (which is still being paid out) and we still need to fund RYLA and the speech contest this year. We also paid four years’ worth of Hometown Holiday Parade expenses to Rands recently.

 

Bill requested that Steve email these reports to everyone and then have a meeting where we discuss the numbers. Lora will send these reports out.

 

Sharon gave a membership committee report: They have worked on a new membership application which is not done yet. They are working on the Chamber of Commerce after hours event to be held on Feb 7 from 5 to 7 pm at the 6 Burner Bistro. As many of us as possible should attend. We will speak to the attendees about the styrofoam project. The committee is also working on printing a business card size invitation to be guests at our breakfast meeting; these can be given out to prospective members both at the after hours event and at other events to drive membership. Lisas Lundari will be designing these cards and we hope to have them available by Feb 7. The speech contest is on Feb 14 and it would be nice to have guests at that event. 

 

Ken is on the financial review committee for the district and he noted that we are down to 1000 members, 38-39 clubs, in the district. We used to have 44 clubs and so budgeting becomes more important as declining membership means that the district has lower income. He will share the district budget once it is finalized. 

 

Mike announced that Tony will go to get district grant certification on Feb 12 so we will be able to submit grants by April 26th. 

 

The board has received two funding requests: one is the First Responders group and they will come in to speak to us before we decide if we want to give them a grant. The science center has also requested funding from the board; this request was tabled until next meeting.

 

Northeast PETs is coming up in Newton Mass. We could put up an ad in the booklet for $100. Sharon made a motion that we purchase an ad for $100 and Ben seconded it. The motion passed.

 

Happy dollars were shared by Mike and Beth. 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lora Miller, secretary