[Lnc-business] Upcoming budget increase requests

[Joshua Katz]

I am happy to hear this good news, and thank you Wes for having done the
preliminary work and for getting the discussion going.

I have a few questions, mainly just to clarify a few items.  26 and 55
continue to match in the budget.  Do they match in real life, or do we make
a profit on these items?  I don't have a problem with doing this at cost in
order to brand ourselves - I think that's a great thing, I just want to
know which it is.

I expected to see an increase in fundraising costs, but I'm surprised at
the size.  I hope the idea is to do different sorts of things and reach out
to new markets.

Like Mr. Starr, I am interested in the compensation increase.  Will this be
more time, more contractor time, or more staff?  Does it include the
interns we've hired for product distribution?

I agree with the ED that the cutbacks proposed do not make sense, and I
think the proposed changes make sense.

Joshua A. Katz
Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)

On Thu, Sep 1, 2016 at 2:46 PM, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org> wrote:

> Dear LNC:
>
> I'd like to start a discussion about several budget increase requests
> before a formal motion is considered. I mentioned to the chair that I
> thought it would be good for me to put this before the LNC soon, and he
> agreed it was okay for me to get this discussion started on this list.
>
> To me, all of these budget increase requests are the result of good news
> -- our revenue, membership, and interest is very high, far higher than
> budgeted, and as a result, many of our expenses are higher as well.
>
> More revenue and members means more membership cards and LP News to mail
> out, and bigger lists to send fundraising letter to.
>
> The original 2016 Budget adopted for the entire year of 2016  was
> *$1,474,561*. My preliminary estimate for August 31, 2016 YTD revenue is
> $1,679,938 (July 2016 YTD) plus $412,425 (August 2016) = *$2,092,363*.
> It's possible we could double the original revenue budgeted for the entire
> year (although I'm not ready to predict that).
>
> Dues-paying membership has increased from *11,693* at the start of
> January to approximately *19,300* at the end of August.
>
> The original budget for branding revenue was *$35,000*. We've already
> brought in *$205,862* in branding revenue (that's mostly the stuff we
> sell at LPStore.org).
>
> Again, all of these increases in donations, memberships, and store orders,
> means higher postage, credit card processing fees, purchases of items
> offered at LPStore.org, office supplies, and some labor to help process all
> that stuff.
>
> Robert Kraus and I have looked over the results of this year to date,
> considered what things could look like going forward, and are recommending
> that the LNC proposed and passes the following budget increases.
>
>
> 26-Brand Political Materials Revenue increase by $150,000 to $400,000
> 32-Fundraising Costs increase by $60,000 to $201,364
> 33-Membership Fundraising Costs increase by $35,000 to $127,200
> 40-Adminstrative Costs increase by $50,000 to $310,050
> 45-Compensation increase by $60,000 to $448,800
> 55-Brand Political Materials Expense increase by $150,000 to $400,000
> 85-Member Communication increase by $17,500 to $62,500
>
> We have the revenue to pay for all of these budget increases. I'm pretty
> certain we have more money in the bank for the September of a Presidential
> election year than ever before in the history of the Libertarian Party, and
> that's in spite of paying what it has taken to achieve 50 state ballot
> access for the first time since 2000.
>
> While we are not technically over budget in most areas, we are trending in
> that direction and certainly will go way over budget by the end of the year
> unless I proactively cut back on fundraising letters, LP News, shipping
> LPStore.org materials, staff levels, and other areas. That could be done,
> but I don't think it's the right thing to do. For example, instead of
> focusing my time on trying to continue the growth of membership and
> fundraising by hiring another intern to fill boxes with campaign materials,
> I could spend my own time stuffing envelopes and filling boxes with yard
> signs--something I do actually enjoy and find to be therapeutic.
>
> I'd be happy to try to respond to any questions you have on these items.
>
> Thanks for your consideration. I'm hoping we have a productive discussion
> on this, and then the chair or treasurer can propose a motion that fits a
> consensus for you to consider of the Labor Day Weekend.
>
> --
> Wes Benedict, Executive Director
> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
> 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.orgfacebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership
>
>
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>
>
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