CFC Budget Process?

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  • CFC Budget Process?

    Posted on members' CFC Chess Chat Forum:

    Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC )

    Discussion Paper # 1

    CFC Level – CFC Budget

    The Cooperative Chess Coalition

    The Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC ) was formed in February 2011 and is composed of 8 members ( CFC members and past CFC members ), who endorse the position papers put out by the CCC. There are also 12 “ supporters “, who are persons who strongly support the goals of the CCC, but who for various reasons do not intend to take out full membership – they are not asked to endorse CCC position papers, but are invited to support them generally. CCC holds the following:

    Our Motto – “ Competition OverTB; Cooperation OffTB “
    Our Goal - :” a kinder, gentler Canadian Chess Culture “

    Want introductory CCC material - cooperativechesscoalition@gmail.com . Consider joining !

    Bob Armstrong, CCC Coordinator
    CCC Facebook Group Page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/co...hesscoalition/

    Background - CCC Motions

    CCC brings motions to the CFC Governors at their quarterly meetings, where we feel changes in legislation will enhance CFC member rights or lead to more efficient and effective operating of the CFC. We have successfully brought motion 2011-K, as amended, to the 2011 CFC AGM ( July/11 ) to delete from the CFC Handbook a piece of legislation we considered member-unfriendly ( called “ Limitation of Rights “ ). We also brought motion 2012-L and 2012-M re a legislative statement of CFC member rights to the 2012 Winter Meeting ( Jan./12 ), and these were defeated. Though “ L “ got a simple majority, it failed since it was a “ constitutional amendment “ and required a 2/3 majority, which we didn’t get.

    CCC has now become concerned that the CFC Handbook lays out no rules for the use of a budget re the CFC. But rather than bring a motion on this immediately, CCC would like to canvas the public on the options they see as possible, to try to build a consensus, before filing a motion. So this is not a “ position paper “ as we have put out in the past; this is just a “ discussion paper “, where we have not given a preference among the options, at this point. We hope this paper will generate worthwhile debate, and show where the members would like to go on this issue.

    The CFC Budget Problem

    The prior CFC fiscal year for 2010-1 came to an end April 30, 2011. No budget for the current 2011-2 was presented by the prior administration before the start of the new fiscal year on May 1, 2011. So CFC was running on solely a prior executive-approved 2011-2 budget ( if there even was one, which we doubt - we think the prior Executive just spent money with no guidelines ). Eventually one ( prepared by the old administration ) was passed by the governors at the AGM ( July /11 ).

    The problem is that there are no Handbook guidelines on when a CFC budget should be presented - there is only inconsistent tradition.

    A recurring problem with this lack of legislative timing is that immediately after the governors pass the budget of the prior administration, the new executive elected the next day wants to " revise " it because they have slightly differing priorities than the old administration ( though that did not happen this July, since so many of the old admin were re-elected ). And again there are no guidelines on a “ revised budget “ - one year this " revised budget " took over 4 months for the new executive to present ( all that time running on no governor-approved budget, because that year the original budget got voted down ).

    It seems that CFC needs clear guidelines in the CFC Handbook to avoid periods where there is no governor-approved budget in operation.

    3 Possible Options

    Option A – Current Practice

    i) The Treasurer shall prepare the budget for the next fiscal year and present it to the governors for vote, no later than 3 weeks before the end of the current fiscal year. There shall be one week for questions/comments/ amendments/ Treasurer replies. Then the governors shall vote during the 2nd last week before the end of the current fiscal year.
    ii) The Treasurer of the new Executive elected at the July AGM, shall prepare and present to the governors for vote, any “ revised “ budget for the then fiscal year, by August 31. There shall be one week for questions/ comments/ amendments/ Treasurer replies. Then the governors shall vote the following week.

    Option B – Two-Budgets Simultaneously

    i) The Treasurer of the new administration elected at the July AGM shall prepare a “ revised “ budget, if any, for the balance of the current fiscal year, and a budget for the next fiscal year starting May 1. He shall have ‘til August 31 to present the budgets to the governors for vote. There shall be one week for questions/ comments/ amendments/ Treasurer replies. Then the governors shall vote the following week.

    Option C – The Moved Fiscal Year

    i) The fiscal year of the Corporation shall be October 1 to September 30.
    ii) The Treasurer of the new Executive elected at the July AGM shall prepare a budget for the next fiscal year, and present it to the governors for vote, no later than August 31. There shall be one week for questions/comments/ amendments/ Treasurer replies. Then the governors shall vote during the following week.

    Debate

    CCC intends to post this “ discussion paper “ and to allow three weeks for debate. Then, taking into account public input, it will determine which option ( or alternatively some new option developed in debate ) it prefers, and will then prepare a further ‘ Position Paper “ to post for final discussion for one week. The motion will then be filed with the CFC Secretary. If motion amendments seem required after final public input, then an amended motion will be filed. We hope that this “ discussion paper “ will encourage significant, helpful analysis of the budget issue.


    Bob Armstrong, CCC Coordinator
    Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Friday, 20th January, 2012, 07:39 AM.

  • #2
    Re: CFC Budget Process?

    Hi Bob,

    I'd like to share this years budget for the Inner Galactic Chess Federation (IGCF) with you.

    Income: 0
    Expenditures 0
    Fun: Priceless.

    The Galaxy just hasn't been the same since some guy retired from playing PacMan on his Atari.

    Gary
    Gary Ruben
    CC - IA and SIM

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: CFC Budget Process? - Lack of Response?

      Despite 202 views in 3 days, there has been no relevant comment on which of the three options presented by the Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC ) seems best to the members. We had hoped for at least some governor comments, but neither are there any on the members' CFC Chess Chat Forum.

      Is the problem that the issue is not " sexy " enough?

      CCC would like some guidance as to the public feeling as between the three options.

      Bob A, CCC Coordinator

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: CFC Budget Process? - Lack of Response?

        Hi Bob,

        That stuff is too complicated. You should do a poll and make it simple.

        1. Leave the deck chairs on the Titanic where they are.
        2. Add more deck chairs to the Titanic.
        3. Change the deck chairs on the Titanic to a different position.

        Pick one.

        It's been my observation most players aren't interested in administration. They are interested in well organized events at a reasonable price in which to play. When they don't get that they stop coming back. There are countless chess players on the list of CFC governors and it's their job to come up with the solutions and maybe increase the membership.

        From what I can see, the CFC has changed focus the past number of years and has given up the 25 to 45 year age group for kids chess. Once a person goes from junior to senior I don't see what's there for him and haven't seen that part being promoted.
        Last edited by Gary Ruben; Monday, 23rd January, 2012, 04:35 PM.
        Gary Ruben
        CC - IA and SIM

        Comment


        • #5
          CFC Focus - What Demographic?

          Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post
          From what I can see, the CFC has changed focus the past number of years and has given up the 25 to 45 year age group for kids chess.
          It's interesting that you pick on the middle years as to no focus for CFC.

          The reason I say that is that since the CFC started its FaceBook Page, 85 % of the Facebook members ( " likes " ) are between 18 - 54 years old. They are the ones we are reaching, and keeping interested, and who want regular chess news that we post there.

          Bob A.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: CFC Focus - What Demographic?

            Originally posted by Bob Armstrong View Post
            It's interesting that you pick on the middle years as to no focus for CFC.

            The reason I say that is that since the CFC started its FaceBook Page, 85 % of the Facebook members ( " likes " ) are between 18 - 54 years old. They are the ones we are reaching, and keeping interested, and who want regular chess news that we post there.

            Bob A.
            Purely a guess, but I am thinking that Gary is not likely using facebook... :)

            I don't bother with Facebook either, but in my case it is purely because it is a security rat-hole, a time-sink and time-waster.
            ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: CFC Focus - What Demographic?

              Originally posted by Bob Armstrong View Post
              It's interesting that you pick on the middle years as to no focus for CFC.

              The reason I say that is that since the CFC started its FaceBook Page, 85 % of the Facebook members ( " likes " ) are between 18 - 54 years old. They are the ones we are reaching, and keeping interested, and who want regular chess news that we post there.

              Bob A.
              I don't use Facebook so have no idea what "likes" are.

              However, I'm not saying players between 25 and 45 don't like chess or like to read chess news which is posted. What I'm saying is there doesn't seem to be anything for them in the CFC. The last time I looked the membership numbers were trending down over the years. If you could sell memberships to those on Facebook who are interested that would show some "likes" can be translated to something firm. Free news is nice but would they pay for the content?
              Gary Ruben
              CC - IA and SIM

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: CFC Focus - What Demographic?

                Originally posted by Kerry Liles View Post
                Purely a guess, but I am thinking that Gary is not likely using facebook... :)

                I don't bother with Facebook either, but in my case it is purely because it is a security rat-hole, a time-sink and time-waster.
                Ditto!

                Personally, I wouldn't get involved in CFC administration unless they made me President for Life. Then I could do things my way. The road to success leads through increased membership and fun for all the members. A structure built on the pyramid foundation. :)
                Gary Ruben
                CC - IA and SIM

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: CFC Focus - What Demographic?

                  Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post
                  I don't use Facebook so have no idea what "likes" are.

                  However, I'm not saying players between 25 and 45 don't like chess or like to read chess news which is posted. What I'm saying is there doesn't seem to be anything for them in the CFC. The last time I looked the membership numbers were trending down over the years. If you could sell memberships to those on Facebook who are interested that would show some "likes" can be translated to something firm. Free news is nice but would they pay for the content?
                  Facebook only works for those with those to Facebook with. If anyone was wondering what Gary would be doing with the extra time gain from his retirement from correspondence chess, the answer is clearly more time to post pithy statements on Chesstalk. Ah, for the good old days when someone retired could just sit on a park bench somewhere and only snare people as they passed by looking them sadly in the eye and proclaiming - "I used to play high level correspondence chess for Canada you know!":):)

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: CFC Focus - What Demographic?

                    Originally posted by Kerry Liles View Post
                    I don't bother with Facebook either, but in my case it is purely because it is a security rat-hole, a time-sink and time-waster.
                    and Chesstalk or Kevin Spragget's blog is none of the above?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: CFC Focus - What Demographic?

                      Originally posted by Zeljko Kitich View Post
                      Ah, for the good old days when someone retired could just sit on a park bench somewhere and only snare people as they passed by looking them sadly in the eye and proclaiming - "I used to play high level correspondence chess for Canada you know!":):)
                      More interesting is that I used to do life testing for vacuum tubes. I built the boards for the testing and then ran the test on the racks. Tubes for TV and military uses. If the batch samples failed, which wasn't often, the entire batch went into the crusher. Then, along came transistors. (This is true.)

                      When someone sits down beside me on a park bench I can be as interesting as Forrest Gump. :)
                      Gary Ruben
                      CC - IA and SIM

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: CFC Focus - What Demographic?

                        Originally posted by Bob Armstrong View Post
                        It's interesting that you pick on the middle years as to no focus for CFC.

                        The reason I say that is that since the CFC started its FaceBook Page, 85 % of the Facebook members ( " likes " ) are between 18 - 54 years old. They are the ones we are reaching, and keeping interested, and who want regular chess news that we post there.

                        Bob A.
                        Well, the 18 - 54 group may still want to keep up with chess news and perhaps play a little against their computer or on the Net, but I feel they're just not interested in a large comittment (e.g. OTB tournament play). I don't believe it's primarily the CFC's fault. Look at almost any adult hobby/recreational organization (chess/bridge, gardening, photography, hiking, ratepayers' org's, service clubs) and what do you find? SENIORS! The younger adult generation are just too busy, it seems, to get involved in these things. A few years ago there was an interesting book 'Bowling Alone' about this phenomenon.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: CFC Budget Process?

                          Option C is the only logical choice, it's not even debatable.

                          Comment

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