Executive News
Where does your money go
By Kevin Howett
(National Officer MCofS)
The accounts for 2003/04 are included in this issue. From this members will be able to see what expenses were incurred by the MCofS last year. The membership subscriptions that are being proposed for the coming year are detailed in the agenda. We have separated the insurance element which simply gets passed on to the insurers. For a club member the fee proposed is £6.30 (with an additional £3.00 for insurance). For Individual Members the fee proposed is £22.50 (with an additional £3.00 for insurance).
Although it is difficult to apportion a distinct sum of this fee to certain aspects of MCofS work, we can look at the expenses in relation to the services members receive based on last year’s accounts and fees and a current membership of 9,500 (both ‘club’ and ‘Individual’) as follows:
Membership Services
The administration staff deal with a multitude of enquiries from members as well as maintaining the membership database. We employ a full time Assistant (Pet!) a self employed part time membership secretary (Sue) and further voluntary helpers who receive out of pocket expenses. This amounts to ~ £22k.
The costs of maintaining the office (rent, heat, light and insurance) and its functions (photocopying, stationary, ICT systems, postage) amount to ~ £34.9k. We recover ~£8k as a cross charge from the safety budget leaving £26.9k.
The work of the volunteers incurs expenses and combined with the events that MCofS organises (debates and the gathering and AGM/annual report) cost ~£11k.
Specialist Officers
We have 3 officers employed: The Mountain Safety Adviser post is fully paid for by grant from the Scottish Executive (including NI, pension, expenses etc). The Access & Conservation Officer post is mostly paid for by grant from Scottish Natural Heritage, although the total cost for servicing the post is not covered. Servicing the National Officer post (including NI, pension, expenses etc) costs ~£31.5k. sportscotland give a grant of £8k towards this post, leaving £23.5k.
The Scottish Mountaineer Magazine
Last year the MCofS paid Pro-Sport Promotions (who page layout the magazine, print and distribute it to all our members) ~£9.5k for six (6) issues. This amounted to £1 per member per year (16p per copy). Total costs of production and distribution are ~£55k. This and PSP staff costs is recovered by advertising sought by PSP. For 2004/2005 the fee to PSP has dropped to £7.5k for four (4) bigger issues (more pages overall).
What it costs per person
The expenditure incurred by MCofS detailed above is therefore ~£93k. This equates to ~£9.80 per person. This sum is more than we receive from a club member, but the shortfall is accounted for by the higher cost of Individual Membership.
Civil Liability Insurance
Remember that the Civil Liability policy covers the MCofS, all Clubs (for social, sporting & recreational activities) Committees, Officials, all Members and Voluntary helpers. Members are covered for their own activities on a worldwide basis.
To compare current premiums, the British Caving Association pay a minimum of £18.00 per person for their activities, with a personal excess of £5,000 (increased if explosives andcave diving is undertaken – when the excess doubles).
Future Financial Security of MCofS
After several years of being in deficit and using up reserves, this year, by cutting back on activities and increasing income by increasing the number of ‘Individual’ members, we have achieved an excess over expenditure of ~£9k. This has increased the General Reserve to ~£20k. However, as an organisation with a turnover of £140k, and employing 4 staff, in order to cover our employment responsibilities (redundancy payments etc) and unforeseen expenditure it is normally recommended to have 30% reserves, (i.e. £42k).
We urgently require more staff to even cope with the current workload, particularly administration staff (the database alone now takes a full time post). If we also wish to expand our efforts in youth development we need more Officer time as the national officers post is already overloaded. There is too much access & conservation work for one post and this financial year we have employed extra help to deal with the upsurge in wind farm proposals (paid for by a generous donation). Even to continue as we are, requires an increase in funds. The best way would be to increase ‘Individual’ membership numbers, but without a marketing and advertising budget it is difficult to compete against the BMC (who have more individual members living in Scotland than we do).
The small increases we are proposing this year will help, but it does not solve the longer-term issue. If members feel there is a need for a representative body like the MCofS to fight on their behalf, and they wish to be consulted on what that body does and be kept informed, then there is a cost. Currently this is very small indeed and we feel gives exceptional value for money.
BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP:
1. ACCOMMODATION
- Scottish Clubs’ Huts
Use of ~22 huts by club members and 13 huts by Individual members. - MCofS Huts
Mill Cottage, Glen Brittle and Alex MacIntyre Hut are owned jointly by the MCofS and the BMC and available to all members. - Huts in England and Wales
Clubs and Individual members of MCofS can use huts belonging to BMC affiliated clubs in England/Wales.
2. INSURANCE
- Civil Liability Insurance
- Travel, Holiday & Activity Insurance
MCofS Members may use the insurance offered by the BMC Insurance Services: walking, climbing or for expeditions in all parts of the world.
3. SAFETY AND TRAINING
- Winter Skills Training
Courses in basic winter skills, 1 day avalanche awareness courses and mountaineering at Glenmore Lodge. - Mountain First Aid and Navigation Courses
- Winter Safety Lectures
The Clachaig Inn, Glen Coe Winter Lecture Series and those operated with TISO. - Safety Information
Advice and publications about mountain safety which are distributed to members free.
4. EXPEDITION GRANTS
- MCofS / sportscotland Expedition Grants
£2,000/yr is available for Scottish based ‘expeditions’.
5. INFORMATION SERVICE
- The MCofS offers a range of information sheets and packs on all subjects relating to the Scottish Hills.
- A full colour 84pp magazine, “The SCOTTISH MOUNTAINEER”, published 4 times/yr.
- Reduced subscriptions to CLIMBER Magazine and TGO Magazine.
- Discounts on gear at selected shops and special offers made through the magazine for members.
6. RECIPROCAL BMC RIGHTS
- Travel and Alpine Huts
The BMC offer cheap travel arrangements to the Alps and reciprocal rights cards for reductions in the cost of Alpine huts. Members can apply for BMC courses in Alpine training etc and other Insurance cover (e.g. Huts) and gain a reduction in cost of BMC Services material.