Re: AUGD: Creating a budget for a MUG
Re: AUGD: Creating a budget for a MUG
- Subject: Re: AUGD: Creating a budget for a MUG
- From: Russ Conte <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:21:58 -0600
I'd like to add a bit about budgeting, if I may.
First of all, I'd strongly recommend listening to the audio of the
Second User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conference, which can be found here:
http://www.mugcenter.com/category/user-groups-20/
I can guarantee it will open your mind to many new ideas about how
one group handles money.
To begin in terms of a budget, my suggestion is to run a MUG like a
business. Any business, whether it's a doctor's office, a restaurant,
a thrift store, a private music teacher, or Apple, Inc., will have a
reason for being. What is the reason your MUG exists? To get you
started along the path to an answer, you might want to ask yourself
why you belong to your MUG. The answer to that most fundamental
question, why does your MUG exist, will almost certainly make almost
all the other business and budget decisions fall into place. For
example...
If your MUG exists to create a warm sense of community (similar to a
book club), then you may not need any dues at all. You can meet at
someone's home, and have virtually the same people each meeting, and
have a great time at no expense. There's nothing wrong with that.
Another option is to treat your MUG as an educational organization.
This will almost certainly require getting speakers, advertising,
getting space, and more. People will almost certainly want to leave
with something in their hand, and/or new ideas or ways to do things
in their mind. There may also be a sense of community, but there is a
very real sense of going beyond just the community aspect to outreach
and education. So your real bills will determine your real budget.
One huge difference between a community MUG and this type will be
advertising. Word of mouth is great, but it will only get you so far.
The whole question of whether you want to charge dues or an admission
price at each meeting or sell products or sell advertising or some
other system to get your money is up to you, but that's the other
half of the budget question. Once you know your expenses, then you
can figure out how much you need per month (or week, or year, etc)
and figure the best way to meet the expenses. But the bottom line
really IS the bottom line in a business, and so your customers/
members had better leave with something of value to them or they
won't come back, no matter how slick and cool your web site and
newsletter and flyers and advertising are.
The third option is what is described in the Second User Groups 2.0
Virtual Conference, so I'll just leave that as a teaser :)
So, in a nutshell, figure out why your MUG exists, (there are more
choices than just the ones I've listed, you'll have to open your mind
to what is really happening in your MUG) see if you even have any
expenses at all, and then do the math. Once you know the amounts,
then the big question is determining how to charge for those amounts.
I'll simply say that in Chicago, we have a membership of $40.00 per
year, and in my mind it's a fantastic deal. It beats the communities
I can find online, the info at the meetings is a lot more in depth
than a web page or any product review, I can know the people as real
people and not just as "MacUser5534" or some such anonymous username,
I can actually influence the development of products for the Mac (and
I really have from my MUG!), I have access to many of the movers and
shakers in the Mac world and I've actually met them myself at our
MUG, and I walk away having saved many times the $40.00 each year on
products I would have purchased anyway. I can't get any of that
anywhere else in Chicago, that's why I'm a member :)
Sincerely,
Russ Conte
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