It might be interesting to see an actual
ride budget after the fact – does anyone keep a spreadsheet of their
income vs. expenses that they would be willing to post after their ride?
I know one ride in TX says their budget
is about $10K – which is a ton of $$ but I believe it, and think more people
would if they could see everything that goes into the budget.
Kristen
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of rides2far@xxxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 3:37
PM To: orrinandginger@xxxxxxxxxxx Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] ENTRY FEES
>>>, 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.
