Budget

How to develop a conference budget:

Things to consider:


 * Income from NMEA before the conference:
 * Proceeds from conference, divided up with NMEA according to formula.
 * Balancing cost with environmentally-friendly practices.


 * NMEA Finances**

See the Proposal to Host a Conference document for a sample budget

In 2003, MAMEA hosted in NC - Andrew Wilson was the finance chair and he used an Excel spreadsheet to anticipate and track all monies. It allowed him to quickly see if the conference would make money or not, as well as accurately tell how much, based on attendence records.


 * More detailed skeleton budget:** This will give you a better idea of the detail needed in planning different categories of expenses. It's not an official part of the SOP yet, but is available for your guidance. [[file:simplified categories p&l budget.xls]].

In 2007, GOMMEA hired an experienced accountant to manage their conference account - an expense that more than paid for itself in close tracking of income and expenses, with realistic planning.

**Distribution of profits between your chapter and NMEA**
From Don Hudson, NMEA Treasurer:

When you are thinking about your budget, you will need to keep the following information in mind.

NMEA 2008 will owe NMEA reimbursement of $6,000 start-up funds right off the bat, and it is best to treat this as an expense of the conference, to be paid either shortly before or after the conference.

Any additional excess income is distributed between NMEA and GAME in the following way...

The first $4,550 of profit after start-up funds have been reimbursed is dedicated to NMEA conference scholarships. Thirty percent of the remainder of the first $20,000 is distributed to the conference host chapter, 70% to NMEA. Any excess income above and beyond $20,000 will be distributed 40% to the host chapter and 60% to NMEA. (This formula for distributing conference proceeds was approved by the NMEA Board of Directors at the Mid-year meeting, 2004).

Expressed in dollars and cents, of the first $20,000, NMEA receives $4,550 plus 70% of $15,450 ($10,815), for a total of $15,365. GAME will receive $4,635 of the first $20,000 and 40% of whatever remains above and beyond $20,000.

A lot of conference organizers think about their auction as being the source of the reimbursement for scholarships. There was a time when the auctions brought in just about enough to reimburse scholarships. These days, your auction is likely to bring in more than $10,000, which will help pay other bills or add to excess income.