The ILCA Constitution requires that every year an annual budget be prepared and published “in the next issue of Lightning Flashes” (Article XII, section 1[c]). While we no longer have Flashes, our YTD June P&L is attached for everyone’s perusal.
Following the Annual Meeting in February, a long-time member asked for this information, as well as historical numbers to help us focus on where we are meeting or exceeding our goals, and where we may be falling short and need to focus. I think it’s a good approach, and while I don’t have everything that was asked for… I’m working on it!
For 2025, we budgeted income of $99,870, and expenses of $99,700. Historically, the Class had done an excellent job of living within its means (see Budget trendline below). Expenses are controlled to align with Income, and the Executive Committee reviews our financials every month. Overall, our biggest challenge with respect to Income continues to be in Membership, which accounts for just over 60% of total our annual Operating Income.
North American Skipper memberships have been hovering around 500-525 for the past several years, and our membership drive in 2024 yielded some, but less-than-hoped-for, results. We’ve seen a significant bump in Associate membership – in 2017 we required Associate membership to place Classified ads, and in 2021 we began to see a strong trend in Youth participation at ACCs, JR NAs, NAs and U32s, which only requires Associate membership to skipper in these events. Crew membership reflects our soft trend in participation in both District and NA Championships. Additional data mining may provide more granular insight into the trends – volunteers with data mining skills would be welcome!
Through June, our YTD income is tracking slightly ahead of prior year, attributable mostly to an increase in sail royalties. Expenses are up slightly, driven by higher credit card fees and office support services. Have you noticed our Social Media presence?! Carly Starck has been doing a fabulous job, and is really reaching our U32 crowd and beyond! We think this is a solid investment in attracting/retaining membership.
Fundraising:
Hopefully you are all aware of the Fundraising Campaign for 2025, which I co-chair with Bob Shapiro. We are nearly 35% of the way there after our first outreach, along with the Evolution spinnaker donation, Midwinters 50-50, and other donations. We are currently taking a pause, as we’ve received some excellent feedback that we may want to pivot to a Five-Year Strategic Plan that includes how we intend to invest the funds to grow the Class and address our most pressing issues. More to come soon, but thank you for your amazing support so far!
LOYALS:
Our Legions of Young-at-heart Active Lightning Sailors (LOYALS) continue to work hard to engage the membership and help provide resources to the Class Office and Executive Committee for priority projects. The G.O.T.-Flashes Challenge is one such initiative that is garnering a lot of participation. Over 1,000 days of sailing have been recorded so far, and the GOT-Flashes blog is updated weekly with new fun facts to challenge us all to just Get Out There!
Interested in joining our legions? Just drop me an email (bertie.werley@gmail.com) and you can be part of our robust team!
