Financial Tips & Budget Planning for Seminole Club Leaders

Seminole Clubs Virtually Unconquered Series Financial Tips & Budget Planning for Seminole Club & Chapters Welcome! Tonight's presentation will be posted to our website, both slides & zoom meeting. Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 1

This presentation is to provide you as a Seminole Club or Chapter Leader; some guidelines, recommendations and tips on how best to manage your club s financial resources and position your club for a success! Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 2

Agenda - Presentation Framework 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Review Progress with your board at each meeting 11. Mid Year and Year-end Close Reporting /Attestation 12. Where to get guidance and help? Your responsibilities to FSUAA and your club New Board, New Year Review the condition of the Club How to develop a Sponsorship Relationship? Establish a Club Goal and Budget How do you create (and maintain) a Revenue Forecast Controlling Costs Treat your Club as a business Review of your Bank Statements Who controls your Club s Cash and Bank Cards? Internal Controls and Safeguards Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 3

Your responsibilities to FSUAA and your club As a representative of FSUAA and Florida State: So how you run your club and even its financials will reflect back to FSU How Florida State provides financial help. The health and future for your club will be directly impacted by how you and your board manage your financial resources & commitments. Your club s financial condition will determine how you serve and provide your local area alumni constituents and scholarship planning. Quality, not quantity. You must provide clear and concise direction and oversight of your funds; any misappropriation or misuse will impact both yours and the club s integrity. Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 4

New Board, New Year - Review the condition of the Club When a new board or officers come in, the previous board should review the prior year s (or two) financial performance Review all existing and outstanding commitments, both real and assumed. The prior Treasurer should be able to review the club s QuickBooks transactions and history of any issues The former Treasurer should hand over all banking records (Club can upload monthly bank statement to a Club Google Drive) All Banking privileges should be: Transferred to the new officers Go to your bank fill out all of the proper bank authorizations (including online access) Remove the old officers from access Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 5

Establish a Club Goal and Budget In order to develop a Budget, you need a Club Goal Reviewing what works & what doesn t. What was the plan? What was executed? Do you want to maintain or increase your club s treasury balance Do you want to start, maintain or increase your club s scholarships Do you need to invest on providing FSU Memorabilia in your Game Watching Venues or your Scholarship Prize Drawing Inventory Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 6

In order to Budget, you need to Develop a Revenue Forecast What is the history of the club performing to their Revenue Forecast What external items can (and all) impact your Revenue Plan? What are the expenses that your Club must plan and account for? CASH is KING! Be sure to develop a time-phased plan and adjust your plan, if you cash flow or budget execution is not performing! Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 7

How to develop a Sponsorship Relationship? Some Clubs have game watch venue relationships, that the club gets a portion of the game watching event proceeds, we took a different path We are recognized as a Non-Profit Organization or Status with the State of Colorado We convinced our game watching venue to donate our annual shirts to the club They had a inside house capability to make shirts for the chain of locations We put their logo and name on the top of the back collar or sleeve of the shirt, this way they could write off the expense as a business expense or contribution Their staff wear a version of our shirts with staff on them Since the game watch venue has the relationship with the major beverage companies, we had them setup a meeting with their promotional teams to develop a plan to provide prizes for special or certain games (4 or 5 times during the season) Season Opener, Miami, Clemson, Notre Dame, Florida and Post Season Bowl Game Prizes from Beverage Companies must follow State Liquor or Beverage Regulation rules Everyone gets a chance to win (1 ticket), no one under 21 is eligible We look to extend our Partnerships and Sponsors vs. looking to another one each year. Do not get side-tracked on the newest, most shiny object Be Loyal Currently we are going into our ninth year with Brother s in 3 locations Have a National Partnership with Miller/Coors (Official Beer of the Seminole Club of the Rockies) Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 8

How do you create (and maintain) a Revenue Forecast What has been the club s actual Revenues for the past two or three years? Breakdown your revenues between FSUAA Stipend, Shirt or Merchandise Sales, Scholarship Prize Drawing Proceeds, Donations and Game Watching Venue/Sponsor Funds A good review of how each of this items performed will give you insight on whether you can achieve the same results into your new year Did you have a good or bad shirt design Did you heavily invest in merchandise inventory and did it move? Did FSU s performance on the field impact your event turnouts? When making a Revenue Forecast and Budget, develop an Optimistic, Most-Likely and Pessimistic Forecast for both Revenues and Costs Be prepared to adjust your budget and spending if your revenues are delayed or look like that you will not meet your revenue forecast Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 9

Revenue Forecast Example: Club History 16- 17 Actual Revenues $ 7,719 (Club did not track sources) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 17- 18 Revenue Forecast Optimistic - $ 18,000 Most Likely - $ 13,000 Pessimistic - $ 10,400 17- 18 Actual Revenues $ 19,180 (Great Shirt Design, Sponsorships) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- 18- 19 Revenue Forecast Optimistic $ 18,000 Most Likely - $ 15,500 Pessimistic - $ 14,000 18- 19 Actual Revenues $ 14,780 (Venue / Gift Inventory Purchases) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- 19- 20 Revenue Forecast Optimistic $ 18,000 Most Likely - $ 15,000 Pessimistic - $ 12,200 19- 20 Actual Revenues $ 18,228 (Great Shirt Design, Sponsorships) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- 20- 21 Revenue Forecast - Optimistic - $ 18,000 Most Likely - $ 14,400 Pessimistic - $ 11,000 Club Operations Suspended Revenue and Budget on hold Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 10

Rockies 2017-2018 Most Likely Revenue Forecast: Date 9/2/17 9/9/17 9/16/17 9/23/17 9/30/17 10/7/17 10/14/17 10/21/17 10/27/17 11/4/17 11/11/17 11/18/17 11/25/17 Time 6:00 PM Alabama 5:00 PM ULM 6:00 PM Miami TBD NC State TBD Wake Forest TBD BYE TBD Duke TBD Louisville TBD Boston College FRIDAY TBD Syracuse TBD Clemson TBD Delaware State TBD Florida Event Revenues Expenditures Net 3,050.00 800.00 1,000.00 1,640.00 1,030.00 $ 3,050.00 800.00 1,000.00 1,640.00 1,030.00 $ 1,030.00 1,030.00 1,030.00 1,070.00 13,000.00 $ Skirt and Sch. Prize Revenues Skirt and Sch. Prize Revenues - $ 1,030.00 1,030.00 1,030.00 610.00 1,070.00 Skirt and Sch. Prize Revenues Skirt and Sch. Prize Revenues 610.00 Skirt and Sch. Prize Revenues No Sales Forecasted Skirt and Sch. Prize Revenues - - 710.00 13,000.00 710.00 $ - Compare prior shirt sales during the season and for big games Plan your scholarship Prize Drawings to the biggest games thru the season Assume that attendance will fluctuate from game to game, plan accordingly Remember our team s performance will directly impact your club s revenue performance, so do not be too optimistic. (Weather, holidays, early kickoffs will impact you too) Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 11

Controlling Costs Treat your Club as a business Take the same approach on Cost Forecasting as Revenues, develop a set of Optimistic, Most Likely and Pessimistic Cost Profiles too! Make a monthly time phased cost and revenue model to project Cash Positions and possible balances. DO NOT RUN OUT OF MONEY! Look over the past two years of costs, but understand the reasoning for higher and lower cost from account to account Establish and maintain a reserve in your cost plan for the non-expected Set-up guidelines for Game Watching events Set up guidelines for covering board member s food at events Same goes for Board meeting food and beverages We DO NOT cover any alcohol costs. As Revenue Realization happens, adjust your spending as well Have Board Members provide a receipt, take a photo of it and provide it on a text message to the treasurer. NO LOST RECEIPTS!! Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 12

Review of your Bank Statements Most statements of available On-line and in .pdf form Have your treasurer reconcile the account within 10 or 15 days from the statement closing. Review all transactions, especially any club debit card transactions Do not share club account passwords with any non-authorized individuals or past club officers. Bring the bank statements to the Board Meeting for the treasurer to present to the board members & have discussions on items that seem out of place. Establish a Petty Cash Fund for Events, but properly manage any funds. Treasurer should request any missing receipts from the statement requesting return within 5 days. If a Club Debit Club has a accidental small value - personal item, it must be paid back immediately. In the event, that a possible misappropriation or misuse of funds (including possible fraud or theft, immediately notify the Director of Seminole Clubs). There should NEVER be any Fund or Cash Advances to any Club Officer! Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 13

Who controls your Clubs Cash and Bank Cards? The President and Treasurer is responsible for the execution and protection of the Club Funds. No Club should have the President and Treasurer functions under one person, there must be separation of responsibilities Assign Club Bank Cards to only those that require this access, President, Vice President, Treasurer and Game Day Operations. Remove all old officers from access to your bank accounts, including online access. All debit cards should be returned. Never allow someone access to a Club Debit Card or Checkbook if they do not have authorized responsibly as per your Club s Bylaws Never have a person write a club check to reimburse themselves for a Club purchase or cost item. Avoid a possible Conflict of Interest. Avoid Club Officers doing direct personal business with the Club (Recommend that any such relationships to be reviewed and discussed with the Director of Seminole Clubs prior to any business transaction) Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 14

Internal Controls and Safeguards This measures below are critical for Club Financial Integrity and will reduce the risk of Theft or possible misuse of funds Separate and assign different people to review the Club s Accounts Make a clause in your bylaws that expenditures over a certain amount requires a Board Vote and just not the approval of the President, VP or Treasurer (Example: any transactions over $1,000 or $2,500) Remove all former Club Officers from Bank Account and Access Have Treasurer present Actual Bank Statements when reporting at Board Meetings President has the ultimate responsibility of the funds; they but must take steps to be sure that they are protected. Someone should verify this. Be sure to keep your Club s local or state Non-Profit Status active Be sure that all online transactions like Venmo, Square or Paypal go directly into the Club s accounts and not a personal account (Suggestion - Clubs should not reimburse for any alcohol or excessive expenses.) When in doubt, contact the Director of Seminole Clubs or the Financial Specialist at the FSUAA Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 15

Review Progress with your board at each meeting The Club Treasurer should develop a monthly report to reflect the financial performance of the club. Include both Revenues, Cost and possible Action Items to address areas of concern. President and Board should be willing to adjust the Operating Plan, if Revenues and Cost require real time adjustments in the event that your plan assumptions are not coming together. The Board should evaluate and determine if club purchases or investments in Merchandise make sense. Larger purchases provide possible volume discounts, but how much time would be required to recuperate this investment. Example: Club Shirts Success requires a strong and effective design, but for recurring sales year over year, you will need to change such designs based on your Club members desire for something different and unique to your club Purchasing shirts that may require more than 12 months to 18 months to recover. You do not want to carry that investment for a long period on your club s books for a long time. (SCoR offers bundled deals with old designed shirts and merchandise at reduced pricing with the purchase of the new designed shirts or items (in order to recover cash from old items at a lower value). Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 16

Mid Year and Year-end Close Reporting /Attestation The Club Treasurer should have the Club s QuickBooks Inputs inputted in a regular basis each month. Every December and June, the Club President must review the Club s Financials and QuickBooks System Inputs & Status FSUAA requires that the Club President signs off on the Club s Financials at these two points in time. If a Club does not meet the end of year QuickBooks completion deadline, your Club s following year Stipend will not be released. This completion must also include the President signing off on their Attestation Form that all transactions and Financial information in the Club s QuickBooks submittal Non-compliance with this requirements and other stated guidelines by FSUAA can extremely impact the Club s ability to remain part of FSUAA and could result in University oversight and official inquiries. Because of the FSUAA s 503 status and oversight required by the State of Florida, there could be unpleasant ramifications that could personally impact the Club President and Parties involved if something is not appropriate or illegal. Suggestion The Club should have someone with some financial or accounting background to manage their reporting. It is not that hard, but someone that has some experience can be vital to the club s overall success. Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 17

Where to get guidance and help? Contact the FSUAA Financial Specialist Review the FSUAA Seminole Club Leadership Guidebook Contact the Director of Seminole Clubs: He will provide any additional support that you may need to or provide guidance and suggestions on how to deal with a particular matter. He may recommend that another Club Leader in another Club be a mentor or advisor for your club, since they may have some experience in dealing with some of the normal activities of running a Club just like yours. It is highly recommended that you disclose any potential issue immediately. Due to University and State of Florida Oversight requirements, any item requiring a further reporting will and must be reported to the appropriate offices and University Leadership. Its best to be quick and concise on any matter of concern. Every year, each Club s Financials are reviewed by the FSU Foundation and others. Also the FSUAA Staff must report on any issues that require attention to the Board of Directors of the FSUAA Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 18

Any Questions? Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 19

We realize that the financial responsibility of your Club is important and may appear to be very demanding, but the FSUAA Staff is willing to work with every Club to provide the appropriate direction how to be successful and to build for your club s future Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 20

THANK YOU & GOOD LUCK! WE ARE SO PROUD THAT YOU ARE A FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLE! Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 21

Jim Penningtons Biography FSU Business School 1982 Accounting (BS) Graduate Former President of the Marion County Chapter and now Seminole Club of the Rockies SCoR (Member of SCoR, since 2016) 38 years in the Aerospace, Defense and Global Security Industry Former Finance Director with Lockheed Martin across the US. Started Career in Ocala Florida with Martin Marietta at a Electronics Production Plant. Left Martin for two and half years and worked on Space Shuttle program and dealt with highly scientific industrial computer applications in the Nuclear, Fossil Fuel, Steel and the Oil & Gas Industries with the first company to use color graphics for process control systems. Returned to Martin Marietta in 1985 and worked on various US and NATO Missile Systems. Left Florida in 1996 and worked on Space Satellites and complex IT systems cross many Federal Agencies (New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC and Denver Colorado) Also worked at Corporate Headquarters managing the total HR Budget. Presented to the FSUAA National Board of Directors in 2018 on Seminole Club financial oversight, recommendations for improvement & internal controls Seminole Football Season Ticket holder for over 30 years, FSUAA Life Member and led the first corporate interviews at the Dunlop Career Center Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 22

How did SCoR get to where we are at today? Dennis Solo ran the club for the prior five years until 2017 (great job) In 2017, Dennis recruited and complete new board with 6 new members with expertise in marketing, sports management, IT and executive experience. The change in direction of the Club: Capitalized and expanded our relationship with our game watching venue sponsor We had an energized alumni and fan base, but no real outreach Focused on our outreach via Social Media and structured our messaging for impact (less is more) Established a budget and execution plan for the Football season and followed it Developed Geographic Centric Shirt Designs (then had our game watching venue pay for them) Structured a partnership with major national beer companies for drink specials and prizes Looked into club expansion, same board and messaging into Northern Colorado/Southern Wyoming We welcomed any out of town visitors and worked on personal relationships for new board members. Also attempted to extend our outreach back to the University PLEASE COME VISIT!! Expanded into Southern Colorado and the High Country of the Rockies (Breckenridge) Areas Our mission is to serve the FSU ALUMNI community of Colorado and also help serve our other great Seminole Clubs and the FSUAA One University, One Team, Many Alumni through Vires, Artes, Mores Strength, Skill and Character. Florida State Florida State University Alumni Association Club Leader Business Planning & Financial Tips 9/24/2020 23