[Lnc-business] Upcoming budget increase requests

Fri Sep 2 02:48:38 EDT 2016

Wes,

I'm still missing something here.

The original budget for compensation was based on a particular staffing
level at specific amounts of compensation.

It looks like the activity of the first eight months is already running at a
rate that will exceed the budget for compensation for the year. (If $314,155
is eight months of expense, a simple extrapolation would bring us to
$471,233 for twelve months, which is well above the budget of $388,800.)  I
seem to recall that most of our compensation cost is based on fixed
salaries, not hourly rates.

During the first eight months we were spending just under $40K per month.
For the last four months of the year you anticipate spending only $34K per
month, so I'm not seeing how the need for a $60K increase in the budget is
due to a need to cover increased people costs between now and the end of the
year. It appears that we were spending well over our budget earlier during
the year. 

Aaron Starr

(805) 583-3308 Home

(805) 404-8693 Mobile

starrcpa at gmail.com

From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of Wes
Benedict
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2016 4:25 PM
To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] Upcoming budget increase requests

I can't disclose exact pay rates and hours worked publicly on this email
list, as you know. In any case, the increase in the budget is to cover more
hours and more people than were originally budgeted for. 

Some contractors and staff have been working more hours, and I'd like to
continue working more hours, than were in the original budget.

I've got more contractors than in the original budget.

I'd like to spend more on additional staff, including interns, as advertised
here:
http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/hiring-libertarian-packaging-interns

With Robert's help, the numbers below show:

FYI - Compensation:

Compensation YTD *                                           $314,155 

Est Amount for Sept-Oct (based on July/Aug)         $69,000 

Est Amount for Nov-Dec                                      $65,000 

TOTAL EST 2016:                                               $448,155 

* Includes 09/07 payroll  

I'm prepared to scale back everywhere if needed as needed, including cutting
people, hours, pay rates, etc., if activity drops post Election Day or
whenever regardless of how far it drops.  Of course we hope to win lots of
elections and see activity skyrocket even higher after Election Day, but I'm
prudently prepared for the alternate scenario as well.

Wes Benedict, Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314
(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.org
facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership

On 9/1/2016 6:25 PM, starrcpa at gmail.com wrote:

Thanks for the good news!

I would like to understand in greater detail the need for a $60,000 increase
in compensation. 

Aaron Starr

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 1, 2016, at 12:46 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.org
facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership

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