Viper Club Financials in Notes

[kverges]

Kudos to the club for posting the financial information; I don't remember seeing this before and this kind of disclosure is critical to building credibility. Some interesting aspects appear to be:

1. Raffle cars don't come free, and perhaps not even at a significant discount. They appear to make some money for the club, but it sure does not look like DC does the club any enormous financial favors here (look at the paint bill for the custom paint).

2. This web site appears to make money for the club, so there is not exactly any club subsidy to make this site possible.

3. The club is in the red, although much of it seems to be due to booking raffle car expenses for prior years in the current year.

4. There are some sizeable management or service-oriented fees and I'd like to know more about what the club gets in return. The officers work on a volunteer basis, and I know the magazine costs money (but how does magazine advertising and newstand/subcription revnue figure in?), but what do we get for these fees?

Overall, I am glad to see this information and hope it sparks some discussion and improvements in fiscal management. $1M in revenues is a real number that deserves some careful consideration in how & with whom it is spent.

 

[Joseph Houss]

**I'll try to answer any of your questions, and would be glad to communicate with our Treasurer (Mitch W) who will surely have any other answers.

1. Raffle cars don't come free, and perhaps not even at a significant discount. They appear to make some money for the club, but it sure does not look like DC does the club any enormous financial favors here (look at the paint bill for the custom paint).

**Exactly, but it's the only way we can expect to see an average ticket sale of almost 50% of total membership! Not to say that winning a stock Viper isn't awesome, but the uniqueness and the documented Dodge customized details is what makes these Vipers true documented "one of one's". That being said, it's because our friends at Dodge are willing to offer this customization (even at a modest cost) that the value of the vehicle becomes so great.

2. This web site appears to make money for the club, so there is not exactly any club subsidy to make this site possible.

**At this point, it's looking promising, thanks to Jay, Tony and many volunteers.

3. The club is in the red, although much of it seems to be due to booking raffle car expenses for prior years in the current year.

**Raffle car expenses can only be booked when invoices are received. The current financial report reported this "out of period" booking. The club did, in fact, expend a modest amount versus revenues (when you "back out" the raffle expense of the previous year), but this is the reason why the VCA exists, to make sure all enjoy their Viper experiences, and thanks to years of conservative spending of our accrued raffle/apparell revenue, we should, and do, in fact, sometimes spend some of this "stored" revenue, in excess of what is collected (the reason we can maintain non-profit status), especially in a Zone Rendezvous year.

4. There are some sizeable management or service-oriented fees and I'd like to know more about what the club gets in return. The officers work on a volunteer basis, and I know the magazine costs money (but how does magazine advertising and newstand/subcription revnue figure in?), but what do we get for these fees?

**Viper Magazine is NOT our publication. We purchase subscriptions, at a discount, from the publisher. The revenue, both advertising and paid subscriptions offsets the very expensive costs on writing, editing, and producing a magazine of this paper/print quality. VCA Notes (the publication that has our financial report), on the other hand, IS "our baby".. and with the help of our creative agency, and growing advertising, will become a "revenue plus" venture.

**Other administration fees are related to our selected customer service administrator (Viper HQ), who fields and manages all inbound calls, outbound responses, marketing (including renewal/VCA edition/raffle promos), membership renewal/new membership, zone rendezvous promotions/administration, etc and other outside agencies/professionals such as accountants, legal counsel, and vendors for merchandise.

Overall, I am glad to see this information and hope it sparks some discussion and improvements in fiscal management. $1M in revenues is a real number that deserves some careful consideration in how & with whom it is spent.

**Keep in mind that ALL of the membership revenue is immediately disbursed to your region for THEIR officers to build events for all members to enjoy, and the remaining portion is for Viper Magazine subscriptions (with upgraded first class postage), liability insurance, ID cards, and related administration. The remaining revenue is a result of many years of hard work from your National Officers, past, present and future, that solidify YOUR ideas on generating needed income to allow us to fund events like Zone Rendezvous. Ideas like Raffles, Publications, Websites, and Apparell, so far, have allowed our members to receive more "bang for the buck" for their annual dues. (I know, I know, you want more!)

**The VCA is an ever improving and growing network of volunteers. As the next "cabinet" of leaders take the throne (National Presidents must retire after a two year term), you can count on them to strengthen the foundation even further.

 

[kverges]

Thanks for the informative and timely response