Where the club funds are spent

[SeanDezart]

Why raise the fee for everyone instead of just those that attend the event?

Aha - good point !

Vote with yer feet Chas !

Awful lot of money Steve....................! Remove that from the membership fees and it don't leave much breathing space but then I know you like tight spaces..........

 

[Chas]

Sean, I think I may have to, or I will do more posts in 3 days than I normally do in a year, Its good to get people talking, just like yourself.

 

[SeanDezart]

I don't talk - I've been mute for 5 years now - let your feet do the voting, I'll let my fingers do the talking and sod walking, Zedding is easier !

You little devil you..........;-) !

 

[Saz]

Cmon Chas, stop being a cheap b*stard. If you have put in the time then you should know that these types of posts are just going to get people pissed off. As an organizer in the past can you imagine how you would feel if after three years of dedicating your time to highly successful event some one picked it apart because they cant spare £5? The Z008, Z009, Z010 meets have developed into one of the best meets of the year. They were dreamed up and organized by Saz and Andy on the 300ZX-club in their own time and no one ever questioned the donation to a very worthy charity. This is one of the key goals for the Z00* meets, it is a no profit event. You have made it clear that you dont like the field and dont like donating to charity. If you dont like it dont go, I'm sure JAE will suit your needs. As far as how club funds are spent, I've never seen a club as transparent as the Zclub when it comes to disclosing the books.

So, in summary take a chill pill and enjoy the many events that the good peeps at Zclub arrange for us!

Don't worry Marco, Im not. The charity aspect brings a handful of clubs together in fancy dress, doing daft stuff, which would not happen otherwise. It does not cost the club anything and everyone seems to enjoy it, so I can not see the point in changing a format people enjoy.

Also the £5 entry does not even cover the costs incurred, it is everything over and above that which the charity gets. I am more than happy to post cost figure up if people would like to see for themselves. The majority of the charity donation came from the Skyline owners club with their drag car wash and the raffle where persons donated prizes.

 

[grolls]

I don't think I'm the only one who thinks that you are just lining some fat cats pocket, .

Agreed, however I won't be drawn in to discussion on here thats for sure.

 

[Saz]

I don't think I'm the only one who thinks that you are just lining some fat cats pocket, and a small percentive actually going to the charity. As for the £5, its not the money, for many years The Z Club would put on this meet to its members out of the clubs coffers. As I said before I would quite be quite happy to pay more membership money, so that we can still do the same.

I think the the world is flat, must be eh?!

 

[Dale]

£128 per month for web hosting ? Ffs sake why so much ?

Russ is the person to explain why we went for that option as he gave the reasons that we needed our own dedicated server when the site kept going down every week

Didn't we get a server with 'mahoosive' memory? Far more memory than we could possibly use? And wasn't there an idea to rent out some of that unused space?

Maybe we should look at that again to offset some of those costs.

 

[JakTheRuby]

I seem to remember us needing the dedicated server was because on a regular doodad it used to lock up when it got busy (quite often too). Dale's right in so much as we did look at renting space to offset the cost but it never really went anywhere. When Russ has finished his house gubbins maybe we can hook that up. I need to have a word with him anyway so I may phone and chase him (give him the old 'chairman' speech).

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Cmon Chas, stop being a cheap b*stard. If you have put in the time then you should know that these types of posts are just going to get people pissed off. As an organizer in the past can you imagine how you would feel if after three years of dedicating your time to highly successful event some one picked it apart because they cant spare £5? The Z008, Z009, Z010 meets have developed into one of the best meets of the year. They were dreamed up and organized by Saz and Andy on the 300ZX-club in their own time and no one ever questioned the donation to a very worthy charity. This is one of the key goals for the Z00* meets, it is a no profit event. You have made it clear that you dont like the field and dont like donating to charity. If you dont like it dont go, I'm sure JAE will suit your needs. As far as how club funds are spent, I've never seen a club as transparent as the Zclub when it comes to disclosing the books.

So, in summary take a chill pill and enjoy the many events that the good peeps at Zclub arrange for us!

Agreed.

We can't please all the people all the time but it takes a LOT of time trying to do so.

 

[moggy240]

I seem to remember us needing the dedicated server was because on a regular doodad it used to lock up when it got busy (quite often too). .

yes it did ,most annoying when halfway through writing a long speech but the site is much better now

 

[malcolmpaul]

Malcolm, what are you inferring please ? I'd rather be clear with your statements before answering.

car shows £1337 debit - 235 credit

website and banner ads £1805 debit - 20 credit

Sorry committee - but this doesn't explain where the money went and presumably will go this year ?

Steve - where is the show material listed please and what proportion of the amounts listed above does it represent ?

I,m not inferring anything, merely stating a fact which anyone who has ever served on a committee will know only too well, in MY opinion Steve , who incidentally I don't know, is doing a great job and should not be subject to attacks on this forum which would appear to be of a personal nature. As I read the accounts a lot of expenditure is for the future, i.e. a capital investment, not just for the present year, investments which all organisations have to make. I personally am not able to attend a lot of meetings due to business committments but would be quite prepared to pay a higher subscription just for the priviledge of using the website which brings me to another point: Why can anyone use it for free if it costs so much to administer?

 

[zedboy]

And people wonder why nobody volunteers to be on the commitee!!!

I for one couldn't be arsed with answering all these pointless/needless questions.

You have my total RESPECT and TRUST Steve. I pay my 15 squids a year and will happily pay for any other events where necessary.

 

[Dale]

Why can anyone use it for free if it costs so much to administer?

It's a good question; I don't know if there's an answer, as I wouldn't of joined had I not been able to have a look around first.

 

[Saz]

I,m not inferring anything, merely stating a fact which anyone who has ever served on a committee will know only too well, in MY opinion Steve , who incidentally I don't know, is doing a great job and should not be subject to attacks on this forum which would appear to be of a personal nature. As I read the accounts a lot of expenditure is for the future, i.e. a capital investment, not just for the present year, investments which all organisations have to make. I personally am not able to attend a lot of meetings due to business committments but would be quite prepared to pay a higher subscription just for the priviledge of using the website which brings me to another point: Why can anyone use it for free if it costs so much to administer?

The website and forums are a wonderful marketing tool, make no mistake the power of the internet. People visit the site, register, have a poke around, get a feel for the club and with this knowledge subscribe. It is a window to the club and what it has to offer.

 

[malcolmpaul]

[/b]

The website and forums are a wonderful marketing tool, make no mistake the power of the internet. People visit the site, register, have a poke around, get a feel for the club and with this knowledge subscribe. It is a window to the club and what it has to offer.

Yes of course it is but some people will take advantage and continue to use it for free, would it not make sense to have a dual level subscription, e.g. full member and website only member?

 

[Saz]

Yes of course it is but some people will take advantage and continue to use it for free, would it not make sense to have a dual level subscription, e.g. full member and website only member?

I agree and I have always wondered about a having a maximum post count for registered users.

 

[Nidge74]

Yes of course it is but some people will take advantage and continue to use it for free, would it not make sense to have a dual level subscription, e.g. full member and website only member?

The website and forum is pretty well set up actually.

Not all features are available for free, the online magazine for example.

Also, paid up members receive free entry to events such as HSCC @ Oulton Park August, or reduced entry to other events, including Zed-only tracktime.

You get a lot more bang for your buck than just a website.

And teh investment in the dedicated server was much discussed amongst the comittee after problems experienced previously. The biggest problem being that the site was hosted in the USofA and when it died here, their offices were closed, resulting in greater delays to get things fixed.

With the dedicated server, and the massive server space, we have the ability to expand whilst being supported by 24 hour technical assistance where required (this does not include Russ by the way )

I hope this goes a little way to explaining things in more detail....

 

[SKiddell]

Jeeeez its like we have walked through a worm hole and gone back to last year, or the year before or the year before, how many times do we have to go over old ground and piss off hard working people.

We are all good at being keyboard warriors but never seem to raise the issues at AGM's

Do you think that the committee is so stupid that it doesn’t try and get the keenest prices for everything or doesn’t have the members best interests at heart.

£128 per month for web hosting ? Ffs sake why so much ?

Because you don't get something for nothing, a number of IT professionals have looked at this time and time again and to get the quality we get/need its about right.

So unless you are now an IT professional and understand uptime, response time, bandwidth capping, fail over, resiliance and concurrency, may I conclude that the issue is closed.

And people wonder why nobody volunteers to be on the commitee!!!

I for one couldn't be arsed with answering all these pointless/needless questions.

You have my total RESPECT and TRUST Steve. I pay my 15 squids a year and will happily pay for any other events where necessary

Good post, and its one of the reasons I had to go....too many Monday morning experts...full of "my mate reckons he can print the mag for £0.36" yes buts its on bog roll and in black and white.

Everyone has a right to an opinion and to question where the club is going and what it is doing with our money but as long as they (the committee) are doing it; voluntarily, giving up their free time and biting their tongues every time someone broadcasts to the world that they could run the club better.......please do it in a respectful manner, alternatively stop talking and do some walking, there is always a vacancy to help out.


Flame on

 

[grolls]

Just a thought, The excess of funds, could this monies not be used in some way to support those racing z's..... infact I would would have no objection to raising the cost of membership to allow for this. As an example, a sturdy marquee with Z Club and membership details on it supplied to those racing, after all it promotes the club and aids those racing.....property of z club to remain obviously........other suggestions?????

 

[Saz]

Just a thought, The excess of funds, could this monies not be used in some way to support those racing z's..... infact I would would have no objection to raising the cost of membership to allow for this. As an example, a sturdy marquee with Z Club and membership details on it supplied to those racing, after all it promotes the club and aids those racing.....property of z club to remain obviously........other suggestions?????

I can appreciate your take on this but I am on my ass with money at the moment and find it hard to find an excess 15 quid for membership, I would not appreciate the annual subscription going up to subsidise people who choose to race, that is just me though. The benefit of the calendar is that everyone got some enjoyment from the excess funds.