Budget Amendment #6 Convention Fund Accounting

[Joe Burnes]

I move the following changes to the budget that was approved on 11/8/25 and am requesting co-sponsors:
Remove the “Convention Fundraising” line item.
See attached file that shows exactly what the new budget will look like with these changes adopted. All changes have been highlighted yellow.

Convention Fundraising should not be included in this budget. Convention Income and Expenses are accounted for on their own P&L. This budget does not account for Convention Expenses therefore it should not account for Convention Income. At Convention, we have various income accounts. As an example, Ticket Sales and Vendor Income are accounted for and contribute to the overall Income for the Convention on its own P&L. Lifetime Donations and General Donations collected at Convention that are intended for the party in general are already accounted for in the normal P&L and already have categories within this budget. To account for any convention related income in a line item as such would be to count income twice. To correct this, the line item needs to be removed. If this body would like to show Convention related items on this budget, we need to do so in a different manner so as not to skew the projected net income/loss that the budget projects.

EDIT:
We already solved this issue. Jocelyn, I, Andrew, and others discussed and agreed upon the best way to proceed after the 2024 Convention.
Here is what appeared on all Budget Trackers from 2024 concerning the Convention Fundraising line item.

Here is the note that was included on the 2024 year end Budget Tracker:

Here is the 2024 Convention P&L that includes that Convention Fundraising income in it so as to give an accurate picture of how well the Convention did (complete with note at the bottom).

Here is a sample of the proposed budget with the mathematical error it creates if we do not pass this (or a similar) amendment:

To my knowledge, there were no objections to these methods used to track Convention Fundraising at any time during 2024. This motion is meant to adjust the budget to allow me to continue tracking it the way I have. If this body wants to see a line item on the budget for Convention Fundraising, we can do that and get rid of the Income and Expense totals but I highly caution against that as, even without the totals, in the case above, people reading it will think we brought in $40k when we brought in $20k.

We can not track that line item in the budget and then add it's amount into Total Income because it counts that income TWICE since it is already being tracked under General Donations and Membership Income. If you are against this amendment, please offer a solution that you would prefer.

 

[Jocelyn Pantke]

I will cosponsor.

 

[Nolan Schmidt]

I will co-sponsor as well.

 

[Christy Ford]

I will cosponsor.

 

[AaronRamos]

I'll cosponsor.

 

[Anastasia Wilford]

As discussed at the meeting, convention fundraising and convention revenue are separate items. Convention revenue and convention expenses should be accounted together, and any revenue above the cost of the convention is required to be deposited into the convention fund per the policy manual.

We have every reason to expect that convention fundraising will happen, so please do not vote to remove this line item just to have the 2026 treasurer have to come to SLEC to add that line item back when we need to account for that income.

It should also be noted that this is not the first time that convention fundraising has been accounted for in the budget, for the same reasons as above. See the 2024 Budget: https://lpt.egnyte.com/navigate/file/ecdcd403-4c87-4fad-b4eb-87d0e81b7a1b

Is $44,500 ambitious? Perhaps. However, removing this line item entirely will not only give us an unreasonably skewed vision of the health of this party, it will create more accounting hassle than it will fix.

 

[Joe Burnes]

As discussed at the meeting, convention fundraising and convention revenue are separate items. Convention revenue and convention expenses should be accounted together, and any revenue above the cost of the convention is required to be deposited into the convention fund per the policy manual.
View attachment 1051

As stated at that same meeting (and on every Budget Tracker and Treasurer Report that has Convention items on it since I've been Treasurer), Convention Revenue and Income have been accounted for on their OWN Income Statement...so they already are accounted for together. The way this budget is written actually separates them out as this budget has no line item for the expense side of that equation and only accounts for the revenue.

We have every reason to expect that convention fundraising will happen, so please do not vote to remove this line item just to have the 2026 treasurer have to come to SLEC to add that line item back when we need to account for that income.

"We" have properly accounted for all income and expenses related to the Convention in 2024 and will do so for 2026. To imply otherwise is ludicrous.

It should also be noted that this is not the first time that convention fundraising has been accounted for in the budget, for the same reasons as above. See the 2024 Budget: https://lpt.egnyte.com/navigate/file/ecdcd403-4c87-4fad-b4eb-87d0e81b7a1b

At this point, you are being misleading and I sincerely hope it is accidentally. The 2024 Budget most definitely did not track "Convention Fundraising" in the same way. To do so would have counted income twice and I would not do this. It is not only bad accounting to do it that way, but it is tantamount to fraud. You cannot count a lifetime membership sold at convention as both Convention Fundraising AND as Lifetime Membership Income. Well, you may or another treasurer may, but I will not do so. @Andrew Amelang you need to weigh in here as we discussed this at length. Further, this entire body was made aware of it on multiple Treasurer Reports like this one: HERE That clearly directs those wanting to see Convention Fundraising to the actual Convention P&L. And provides a full explanation in the notes at the bottom that reads: CONVENTION FUNDRAISING:
Budget amount is $20,000. Lifetime ($20,471.70) and Unrestricted ($8775.89) donations received at convention
total $29,247.59. However, we cannot class Income as both "Lifetime Mem"/"Unrestricted" AND "Convention Fundraising". Therefore, I have
chosen to leave it out of the budgeted total for Income as it has already been classed accordingly within QuickBooks. See note at the bottom
of the included P&L for how this affects Net Income.

Is $44,500 ambitious? Perhaps. However, removing this line item entirely will not only give us an unreasonably skewed vision of the health of this party, it will create more accounting hassle than it will fix.

Factually incorrect. And I have taken great pains to provide an accurate and clear picture of the financial health of this party. Doing it the way you want it IS what created an accounting hassle that I had to overcome. I will not report the same income twice on a budget. Doing so is a violation of my fiduciary responsibility. If this body chooses to keep that as a line item, they will need to define exactly what they expect me to include in it. If the accounting is sound, I will do it. If not, I won't. It really is that simple. The way it is set up now is not sound accounting.

 

[Joe Burnes]

And not for nothing here, but I'd like to know how long it has been since this body has received a Convention level P&L taken directly from our accounting software? Until I spent close to 100 hours to achieve this, I hadn't seen one and I've been on this body since 2018.

 

[Anastasia Wilford]

We can discuss this further after the vote if need be. I have not implied that anyone didn't do their job or did their job poorly, and I'm certainly not intending to be misleading and don't believe anything I've said has been such. I *think* what's happening is a misunderstanding between you and me, but considering the shift in your responses, I don't think now is a good time to continue to try to resolve that misunderstanding. Maybe a phone call another day when you have the time.

 

[Joe Burnes]

We can definitely have that phone call. This one may be a misunderstanding. What I can say for now is this issue was a big one for me when I took this position. How to accurately give this body the information they need AND maintain sound accounting practices is important. If I'd have done it the way this budget proposes, I'd have only been able to achieve one of those, and wouldn't have fully achieved the one. The way I have done the reporting achieves both. If this body wants to budget convention items, we need a separate budget for convention (which is why I already provide a separate P&L). But I will not report only the income and not the expenses. Nor will I report income twice on the same budget which will cause the income/loss to be in error, regardless of what this body passes. If it is kept like it is, I'll continue to do exactly what I did in 2024, which is to direct peoples' attention to the separate P&L.