I hear you about the additional expenses and normally it's out of pocket the first ride you put on and yes, you do make a profit even with the expenses. My family comes in from out of state as well and they are strictly volunteers. That's what our volunteers are, no money exchanges hands. We also have friends and neighbors and they are volunteers. The profit that is made goes towards next years ride. I don't think these rides were originally set up tp make money, that's for sure. Of course, there are some people seeing it in a different light these days. Ginger
To: orrinandginger@xxxxxxxxxxx CC: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2008 16:36:53 -0400 Subject: [RC] ENTRY FEES From: rides2far@xxxxxxxx
>>>, the purchasing of items to mark the trail; a small completion award and payments to vets(usually the vets are owners of our sport, as well, and only charge according to the number of horses) all else is considered FRILLS.
Again, I am a no frills person, but for my ride there were lots of incidentals...like having someone come from out of state and driving around borrowing water tanks and hauling water to remote locations for a couple of days. Even when he wouldn't accept anything but gas it was a fair amount (but worth twice that!). Some of our SERA "professional volunteers" come from a long way off and work their butts off. Gas is about all they charge for working so hard but that is another ride manager cost that is worth much more and appreciated *immensely*. I consider those costs as basic as paying vets.
Here are a few items from my checkbook I wouldn't have thought of in pre-ride budget:
Stamps (boy have they gone up!)
Copy paper for rider cards
Copying ride flyers & cards
100 Brown envelopes for rider packets
Gas to run around town doing that.
Food & drink for volunteers
Lots of flagging
Paper plates & 4 rolls of colored duct tape to make arrows (that stuff's expensive!)
Staples for staple gun
Office materials, legal pads, packages of ink pens, staples, paper clips, etc.
Gas money for those who spent a lot for the "privilage" of volunteering >ha!<
more gas money to go clear trails (at $25 per trip to my trail I'm afraid to add it all up!)
cattle markers
electric posts to lay out vet check
Big markers (those are expensive) to make signs.
That's not even getting into T-shirts & awards expenses.
The last time I was ride secretary I believe I paid $1.50 per entry to AERC (could be wrong...1988 or so). Was a little shocked to see I owed AERC $6 per entry and SERA $2.
Regions could save managers a *lot* of money by making a list of riders who absolutely know how to use the internet and don't need their flyers mailed to them. Riders should update their e-mail address with AERC. I wrestled with that trying to find a way around it, but when one person who bring 3 entries almost didn't know about the ride if it hadn't been for me mailing it out by snail mail, I realize that mailing may be worth the expense.
I still did OK financially. There is a profit. I had good weather and people decided to come despite gas prices. It would be fun to think "Hey, I made a profit being a ride manager, this is a good deal!" Except...I realize that if they'd forecast rain for 4 days prior to my ride and if it had been lightning at the start like this morning I might have suddenly had 45 starters instead of 90 and lost more than I gained this year...so I'm just shooting for averages. I'm *so* thankful to get to start out ahead or there would be no "next time" but since I did, the ride can have its own emergency account for next year rather than risk my family's finances. When Wesley Crowe can tell me he lost money with 160 entries I know I'm walking on thin ice.
One thing I won't do is limit entries by raising the price. When I said I might have to limit the ride someone said, just raise the price and that will limit it, but I don't care for that route. I'll keep the entry reasonable and first come first serve.
