* A note sent to members of the Gold Coast Elan Vital community **
** 6th November 1998 **
Dear all
Nationally, the screening fees are to be increased - beginning Jan. 1999. The new fee for GC has been nominated at $480 as EV is working towards attaining a 15% national increase which is requested internationally to do with video production and partial compensation of the A$ value. Below is the draft of the (next) letter I would like to send on our behalf regarding this. (It seems that Sunshine Coast is also looking at a 65% increase - other centres I have not yet heard of their challenge/demise depending how you look at things.)..........
4th November 1998
Dear B. (National Co-ordinator,
No doubt there have been some "Oooh"s coming your way re the proposed increase in screening fees for the various regions. I am afraid we have to add our Oooh as well.
Is there any possibility of negotiating the amount for the Gold Coast area?
We work very hard at trying to balance our ongoing costs here (like everywhere else) and as you will have seen in our monthly minutes, it continues to be a struggle - and as always pointed out in those minutes, the funds raised from sponsorship and door takings are invariably $200 less than the ongoing monthly costs. month. The only fund raising activity we have not yet tried is selling someone's body to science. (So far no one has volunteered, although in my role as contact I have approached two people.)
To increase the screening fee by 60% from $300 to $480 will be an incredible challenge. It is certainly a concern that too much focus will be forced onto raising money and not the essence of what is really happening.
Re the formula that $10 was calculated for each person per month who was included in the count as "attending a video event once a month or more" - the statistic submitted was based on attendances just prior to M's visit and so we were seeing people who are rarely seen during the rest of the year. Like other regions, there is a certain percentage of people who would attend once every three months. They fell into that total due to the prospect of M coming to Australia soon. Also, they are in the category of people who would be unlikely to contribute a donation at the door.
A more accurate statistic might be to look at the average attendance for the month.
What else? Any more ideas/changes etc. re this letter??
Many thanks and kind regards,
A.