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2 <?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='../../../lib/xml/doc.xsl'?>
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3 <!DOCTYPE doc SYSTEM "../../../lib/xml/doc.dtd" [
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4 <!ENTITY pound '£'>
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5 ]>
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6 <doc>
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7 <head>
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8 <title>Future of 7 VT working group: Third meeting</title>
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9 <author>This informal summary by Henry S. Thompson, Convenor</author>
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10 <date>Held at 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh on 26 January 2009, 7:30 p.m.</date>
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11 </head>
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12 <body>
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13 <div>
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14 <title>Attendance</title>
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15 <p>Present: Alison Burnley, Madeleine Harding, Phil Lucas,
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16 Laurie Naumann, John Phillips,
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17 Eileen Schott, Henry Thompson (in the clerk's chair)</p>
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7
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18 <p>Prevented: Brian Mayes, Rufus Reade</p>
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6
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19 </div>
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20 <div>
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21 <title>Cashflow history and forecast</title>
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22 <p>John Phillips presented some summary cashflow figures over the last nine
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23 years (attached).</p>
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24 <p>Much of BYM deals with property at Local Meeting level -- we are
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25 relatively unusual in viewing property as an Area Meeting resource. John
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26 thinks this is important.</p>
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27 <p>The staff are not here to run a business, but to be the face of Quakerism in
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28 Edinburgh. The contrast with the situation when we were in Stafford Street is
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29 instructive in this regard.</p>
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30 <p>The figures in the sheet are summary numbers, simplified in various ways,
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31 leaving out a number of much smaller numbers.</p>
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32 <p>Over the first 10 years, expenditures (under the heads listed here)
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33 roughly balanced income.</p>
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34 <p>Expenditures are at the top, as insofar as there is a feeling that the
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35 building is too expensive, these are the things which must be controlled.</p>
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36 <p>There has been a notable increase in the staff costs, this is down to a
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37 number of things:</p>
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38 <list>
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39 <item>Much more responsibility for the financial side of things</item>
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40 <item>Policy development, for example wrt Health and Safety</item>
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41 <item>The staff coverage is much greater: two or three staff on duty from
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42 0900 until 2200 every weekday.</item>
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43 </list>
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44 <p>The first two of these represent a professionalisation of tasks which formerly fell to
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45 members, as amateurs.</p>
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46 <p>Other costs which have risen signicantly is the maintenance and repairs
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47 -- recarpetting the Meeting Room, for instance, was 7,000GBP. This heading
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48 covers a wide range of things (fridges as well as chairs), and just varies a lot.</p>
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49 <p>We cover the Council Tax on the staff flats, as they are required to live
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50 in them.</p>
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51 <p>Lettings income in general has risen, but there has been a 10% gap in 2008.</p>
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52 <p>It has been since approx. 2003 that a real gap has opened up between
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53 expenditure and income. Area Meeting has viewed it as their responsibility,
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54 since this is an Area Meeting resource, to cover that gap from contributions
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55 made by Friends to Quaker funds.</p>
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56 <p>Our annual donation income to the Area Meeting is running at around
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57 70,000GBP. This depends in important part on a small number of very large
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58 donations, which John would like to put into savings, but has been unable to do
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59 so must. So 20,000 to 30,000 from this goes to bridging the gap. This in turn
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60 has reduced the amount we have in the past, and that John feels we should, pass
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61 on to BYM.</p>
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62 <p>What could we do about the situation? Appeals and legacies have been
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63 used to cover the increased gaps caused by major items, i.e. the foyer/ramp/Bow
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64 Room and the stonework.</p>
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65 <p>John is not sure we can expect to do this in the future: too many
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66 appeals are counter-productive</p>
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67 <p>John's take on upcoming large expenses, if we are to go on using the
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68 building as we are now: window repair/replacement;
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69 toilets; kitchen and its equipment</p>
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70 <p>We are not using the building to its full capacity, but no clear route to
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71 being sure to do so.</p>
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72 <p>If we thought we couldn't afford the major expenses, and/or the income
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73 continued to drop:</p>
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74 <list>
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75 <item>Retrench: reduce the staffing, and the approach to use, particularly
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76 during the day, i.e. open only in the evening.</item>
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77 <item>Sell: But the market value of the building is low, moving is unlikely
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78 to be easy financially. The flats are a better proposition, they were
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79 initially viewed at least in part as an investment, and they have done
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80 reasonably well.</item>
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81 </list>
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82 <p>Eileen asks, what about the future for maintenance and repairs? John
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83 says, well, hard -- sometimes things just jump out and surprise us -- for
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84 instance, DDA regulation requiring a ramp causing the foyer refit. 30K is a
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85 fair estimate, not including exceptional items.</p>
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86 <p>Laurie asked about a sinking fund? John said there is one -- we tried to
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87 put aside a reserve each year in the early days of owning the building, and
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88 that built up a large general fund, but latterly it has been run down from a
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89 peak of perhaps 70,000 pounds to a current level of 30,000 pounds. This is
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90 distinct from the capital fund, which grows from legacy, was used up to buy
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91 Kelso meetinghouse, but since most have gone to cover capital costs (foyer,
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92 stonework) so there is only about 15,000 in that fund today.</p>
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93 <p>AM's other major outgoings: donations to BYM, GM, NFPB: 30,000, but AM
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94 would like that to be higher, it has not kept pace with inflation, and we're
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95 not getting close to giving half our income to BYM, which was of old the
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96 target; AM activities: conferences, Woodbrooke, etc: 8,000; Administration:
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97 newsletters, advertising, fees: 12,000; local meetings pay their own letting
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98 costs. It's the donations figure that has to bear the brunt of making the
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99 books balance. This makes John unhappy, and probably a lot of AM Friends as well.</p>
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100 <p>Henry was worried that there was a clearcut possible plan to
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101 significantly reduce the gap by cutting back in some way which leaves us here, <emph>or</emph> moves us
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102 out.</p>
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103 <p>John agreed, and said he didn't see how we could meet the needs of the
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104 Meeting (both AM and CE LM) without staying here, and making the best of what
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105 we've got.</p>
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106 <p>Madeleine asked how many people give regularly. John said that every
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107 month there are 80 or 90 monthly standing orders, and 40 or so annual
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108 donations. So quite a large proportion of our 240 or so members contribute.
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109 Madeleine wondered about other ways to generate more income, similar to other charities.</p>
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110 <p>John mentioned that people say "It's so nice not to be in a place where
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111 people keep asking us for money". We don't, in general, spend our time trying
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112 to raise money.</p>
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113 <p>John confirmed to Laurie that our donation income includes the Gift Aid benefit.</p>
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114 <p>John answered Phil that the rents were reviewed and a phased-in raise
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115 happened over the last year. Alison wondered if this had contributed to the
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116 decline in rental income.</p>
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117 <p>John surveyed the staff allocation: The Buxtons and Tom Nisbet make up
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118 1.7 FTEs; the part-time wardens are paid hourly, one of whom, Cathy McCurrough (sp?),
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119 is on a .4 FTE contract, and the rest probably add up to around another 1 FTE.
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120 So a total of about 3, which is as noted a considerable increase.</p>
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121 <p>Laurie asked about Festival income: 'excludes charity grants'? Festival
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122 Committee manages a turnover of about 30,000. They recommend that some of the
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123 profit each year be allocated to one or more charities, that is what is meant.</p>
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124 </div>
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125 <div>
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126 <title>Progressing the survey</title>
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127 <p>Carry forward by email, Henry will coordinate</p>
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128 </div>
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129 <div>
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130 <title>Next Meeting</title>
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131 <p>Our next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday 8 February at 11
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132 Douglas Crescent.</p>
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133 </div>
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134 </body>
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135 </doc>
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