Fundraising and Volunteering – The Family Commitment plan
It costs much more to operate and staff the gym than is collected in dues from families. Over $100,000 is raised each year from Gaming revenues, profits from the Surrey Invitational Gymnastics Meet, and other smaller fundraising activities. If this revenue was missing, an athlete training 4 hours per week would have in pay an extra $50 per month. An athlete training 10 hours per week would have to pay an additional $124 per month. Athletes training 24 hours per week would be required to pay a further $300 per month.
No one wants to see the fees go up so we must work together to ensure that this revenue remains intact. We must participate as part of our commitment to Gaming, in community events such as parades, demonstrations, etc.
For the Surrey Invitational to be a success we must ALL participate.
Equipment set up and take down, minor officials, helping in hospitality or concession areas. organizing awards, providing food, etc.
To be fair and get everyone involved, the Family Commitment Plan has been devised, it specifies how many “points” a family must earn, how they can earn them, what the minimum requirements are for the major fundraisers, and what the penalties are if the family’s commitments are not met.
How Many Points?
The number of points each family is required to earn each year is equal to “the number of hours per week that the athlete trains, times 20, up to a maximum of 360 points per athlete.
For example: If the athlete trains 10 hours per week then the family must earn 200 points.
If a family has more than one athlete, their point requirement is the total of the two highest point athletes to a maximum of 1200 points per family
A year for commitment points runs from setup (around July 10“) to Take-down (around June 25‘*‘). Extra points do not carry over to the next year.
How to Earn Points
Points are generally accrued as a set number of points per hour or $1 equivalent to 1 point for food, prizes, fundraising profits, money donated, etc.
Specifically:
15 points per hour for:
- Surrey invitational meet – any additional time working at a meet for a scheduled activity beyond the basic requirements as laid out below.
10 points per hour for:
- For volunteer time for any club related activity. Examples: Parade participation or take down and set up of equipment in the gym for summer cleaning.
- Attending a board meeting – when not a member of the board
- Other activities to support the club with the approval of the board of directors or the club coordinator. These extra activities may be limited to a maximum of 100 points each depending on the activity.
1 point for every dollar donated or earned for the club:
- Profit from fundraising is accumulated at 1 point per $1 raised ( example: 1 bucket of cookie dough sold for $15 makes the club $7 profit, 7 points are earned).
- Donated items such as food or prizes will be credited Family Commitment Points equivalent to the retail cost of the item (assuming the item donated is useful to the club).
- Each family is required to commit to participating in one community event per season.
Additional Commitment Point Opportunities
Members who volunteer to take on more roles of responsibility will be awarded commitment points commensurate with their responsibilities. Examples include:
- Parade Coordinator 200 points.
- Newsletter Coordinator 200 points
- Family Commitment Points Coordinator: 200 points,
- Surrey Invitational major roles of responsibility: 200 points
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- Organizing hospitality food and volunteers
- Organizing concession food and volunteers
- Organizing awards for the athletes
- Organizing minor officials for all events
- Scoring room
- Program printing: including gathering ad and athlete information and laying out the program
- MC and music
- Meet Marshall/Coordinator
-
Each committee head is responsible for submitting appropriate information to the points coordinator for their area of supervision within 2 weeks of an event. The committee head will then receive points accordingly.
Members may approach the Club Coordinator or members of the board of directors if there are special projects or activities they would like to initiate or be involved in.
Minimum Requirements for Meet Participation
On April 4, 2018 the SGS Board passed a motion overhauling the Invitational commitment points requirements. The new requirements will be as follows:
Families are required to participate in the Surrey Invitational, the largest fundraiser for the club. The Surrey Invitational raises approximately $1000 per athlete which goes directly towards keeping fees low.
The basic requirements do not earn points towards the family commitment plan. The minimum level of participation is pro-rated depending on how many hours the athlete trains, The table below shows what the MINIMUM requirements are.
Training Hours per week |
Minimum Meet Sessions (Adult) |
Minimum Meet Sessions (Youth) |
Setup/Teardown Sessions |
| Up to and including 8 hours per week | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 hours or more per week | 4 | 2 | 2 |
Remember that these are MINIMUM requirements. Any hours committed beyond the basic requirement will contribute to a family’s overall annual commitment points program.
Invitational sessions are approximately 4 hour blocks of scheduled activity doing set up, take down, minor officiating, working the concession or hospitality area, or taking on one of the major responsibilities for the meet, listed above under Additional Commitment Point Opportunities.
Penalties
Unfortunately, in the past, not all families have done their share of the work. For this reason, some financial penalties have been put into place.
At the time of registration, all families will be required to submit Family Commitment Plan cheques or a credit card number, in addition to yearly dues.
As consistent with past years, incomplete family commitments will be prorated. For example if only 3 of the four shifts are completed and no setup/teardown, $500 will be charged to your card instead of $900.
AGM Participation
In addition, AGM participation for all competitive, pre-competitive, and interclub families is a mandatory requirement. As a requirement of our gaming grants, the government of British Columbia routinely audits club AGM’s to ensure that AGM participation is sound. As of September 1, 2016, an additional post dated check for $50 was required of all of the aforementioned families that is collected and returned at the AGM. Barring that, a credit card pre-authorization could be submitted to the club office if a cheque is not available.
Excused absences from the AGM must be approved by the board of directors before the cheque / preauthorization is returned to the member family.
Cheque |
Amount |
Post Dated to |
| 1 | Family Commitment Points Total | June 30 |
| 2 | Family meet requirements at $100 per session, plus $200 per setup and/or teardown requirement. | April 1 |
| 3 | AGM $50 commitment check | Oct 15 |
For example, a family with an athlete training 15 hours per week would write a cheques for $300 (15 hr X 20) and $1000 (6 sessions X $100 + setup $200 + teardown $200).
lf the athlete trains 4 hours per week, the cheques would be $120 and $400.
If a family has not met their meet requirements by April 1 the cheque will be cashed. If a family has not met its family commitment points for the year by June 30 they will be asked to submit a cheque for the amount of the balance owing. If this is not received then cheque #1 will be cashed.
Summary
So, it’s up to you. You can participate in supporting our fundraisers and help raise funds or your cheques will be cashed and the money used to help revenues. As opportunities arise, sign up sheets will be posted in the lobby of the gym and notices emailed. Watch for sign-up sheets in the gym lobby. Don’t be caught short, volunteer early.