Show me the money!! Part 1

So before we get into the actual nuts and bolts of budget creation we have to identify some basic principals that we operate under. First and foremost at TNT we never lose sight of the fact that this is the players money and we have to manage it effectively to provide them with the best experience we can. We also have several checks and balances on who is authorized to make purchases and who can sign cheques to insure that club funds are used properly. This also provides us with protection for our executive members and gives us full transparency with respect to all financial transaction. No members of Express Football receive any sort of remuneration of any kind and we are fortunate to have a great group of volunteers who are willing to work hard for the club. Any budget breaks down into revenue and expenses and they both present their own challenges when it comes down to budgeting. Revenue is driven by registration fees and total numbers of players involved which requires some educated guess work when you are 3 months away from registrations. I will sit down with the Treasurer and review the player number from the previous season and factor in players graduating out of our program as well as players we don’t feel will return. In addition we have to guesstimate the number of new applicants for the upcoming season. Once we have arrived at an estimated number of players (which we always are conservative with) we can multiply in the fee and arrive at a total projected revenue. We then consider club revenue from concession sales at games, TNT clothing sales, donations and arrive at our final revenue figure. That is the amount of money we will have available to run all the programs for the entire season. Our philosophy is that registration fees should cover all costs without extra fund-raising by our parent group. We are also fortunate enough to get an excellent price from the Town of New Tecumseth on our field usuage which enables us to keep fees down and avoid having to charge an entrance fee. Next time I will take you into the wonderful world of expenses and outline what TNT players and families receive for their registration fee.