The OACT Board’s meeting last week was a long one with a range of financial issues under discussion.
The Executive Officer reported that in relation to recurrent funding grants, ACT Sport & Rec is moving away from an unstructured grant framework (currently valued at $26 000 per year) to a requirement to submit grant applications against ACT Government priorities. Applications are to be submitted before the end of the calendar year for the next financial year. The expected emphasis is on big ticket items, with smaller sports likely to have to share a relatively small pool of ‘left over funds’, possibly at about $5000 in our case. As a consequence we are likely to need to augment our income through member and event fees.
On the issue of membership fees, members noted that if we just measured membership fees against the funds we pay to OA for levies then we break about even, though our fees are equal with the lowest in the country. OA is doing away with family membership fees in favour of senior and junior fees. We only pay fees to OA for adult members. Members agreed we should adopt a similar model. Other States are moving to a higher fee for adults, a low fee for juniors and some have free for U10s. We should also provide an incentive for membership, most obviously perhaps by having a higher fee for non-members. Fees for other sports memberships are significantly higher than in our sport, as they are for orienteering overseas eg in Sweden equivalent to $215 per adult and $100 per junior. Some sports have a fee paid to a national association (not via States or clubs) and some have a social membership category, which OA is moving away from. Current fees are $60 per adult, $50 per junior, $80 per family, but in future families will not be able to join as a family. After discussion of a range of options the Board agreed that an appropriate fee structure for the coming year would be $65 per adult and $10 per junior, with under 12s free. It was noted that we may need to prepare for further increments in coming years too. Event entry fees are to be adjusted accordingly, with a distinction between member and non-member fees. The Board also agreed to allocate a budget amount of $5000 for 2022 with a view to each OACT athlete who represented Australia in 2022 at WOC, JWOC, WUOC, WMBOC being funded $500 for each such event for which they were selected and attended.
The Treasurer reported that QuickBooks software package is very straightforward to use, including for employee payments, PAYG and BAS requirements. As an indication of volume he noted there had been 220 transactions in the last 4 months. While this volume is high there does not appear to be an ongoing need to consider engaging a separate bookkeeper. The process for making a claim for payments/reimbursements via the online claim form is satisfactory but needs a higher profile.
Awards: CBR Sports Awards – we have submitted 2 nominations for Hall of Fame and one for female athlete of the year. In connection with that the Board considered a proposal from Bob Mouatt for digitising some of his video records. The Board welcomed Bob’s proposal and agreed unanimously that it should be supported. OACT EOY Awards – Valerie to put out a call for nominations.
Access issues: ACT Parks has replied to our most recent approach to say they have been working on ecological surveys and so have not yet finalised the proposed framework, but they will follow up again. They also noted the timeframe for access to Orroral Valley is not yet certain.
Easter 2023: Stephen reported that Jindabyne Sport & Rec Centre is now due to be under construction during 2023, so we are going to have to move the venue, with a Canberra location currently the frontrunner candidate venue. This change needs to be publicised quickly. Valerie and the course-setters visited Glenbrook and have developed good relations with the landowners incl for parking and catering. Andrew C-T has had good responses from community groups at Nimmitabel. Andrew C can manage the income and expenditure, measured against a budget that Andrew H is to finalise.
The President reported that Sanda Halpin and Katy Hogg will fill the Newcomers Welcome role jointly.
The Board considered a proposal from the Development Officer for a program to be known as TrakOTack. Members welcomed the proposal intended to align with an existing series (Twilight) in the new year, and to have an option after school during the week. Members noted it is similar to Map Mates (which is still expected to be run as well, at the start of the winter season), but is open to all ages and it will lead into the Autumn SCORE series. SI sticks will be on loan. The Board also noted that at a recent coaching meeting a ‘Coach of the day’ concept had been suggested for generic technical assistance at twilight and Saturday events was proposed, ideally on a roster basis and possibly in 4-week batches. The coach need not be elite, but just a designated person to help out with coaching tips, but it could potentially also link people up with Cockies to assist with transition to higher performance. Susanne will write up a ‘coach instructions’ proposal alerting members to be ready to agree.
The Summer Short Series has been advertised but needs to be widely promoted.
Primary School Championships to take place on Wed 23 Nov, but also needs to be widely promoted.
In other business: Valerie completed an online module and attended a Member Protection Information Officer (MPIO) workshop run by the Play by the Rules program administered under the SIA umbrella; OA is expecting to run online workshops again at the end of this year instead of the traditional AGM, with sessions focussed on performance competition and participation, so we need to identify OACT representatives to attend those sessions and a Special General Meeting to finalise the new OA corporate structure.
The next meeting will be on 12 December.