I did a quick review of the 2017 PASS Budget. It’s not a page turner, but it has a lot of good information. I wish there as more context about some of the changes. The following isn’t a summary, just notes about areas I either care about or caught my eye:

• No revenue growth predicted in the budget (though Summit revenue seems to be estimated to go up about $410k, about 7% if I count right)
• BAC income (lines 340, 341, 342) was about $1.2 million, expenses were about $1 mil – about a $200k profit, though there may be other pieces that. Projected income/expenses for the same items in 2017 are 0 – it’s dead.
• Expenses for Corporate Administration (HQ) increase by almost $400k (in a year with zero growth projected overall). Why?
• SQLSaturday was trimmed almost $50k. Chapters went up $30k, and BA Community went up $40k
• Summit income (210, 220, 250) was about $8mil last year, expenses were about $4.4mil – no surprise, this is what pays the bills
• The Special Projects budget is an astonishing $700k, of which $83k is management and $615k is “contingency”. I’d very much like to understand what that money is going to be used for.
• The Regional Mentor meeting doubles in cost for 2017, going to $93k. The chapter leader meeting is $1500. I can only guess that the RM meeting includes a bunch of comps (as would the Chapter meeting, not sure where those are listed)
• Im incensed to read that the 2017 budget for BA Days is $73k, projected to make about $20k. We could do a rally for $100k (or a lot less, depending on the model) and serve a lot of people. [Just guessing at a list price of $400, thats about 182 paid attendees]

It’s easy to pick at the budget, why do we spend X on Y. Those aren’t bad conversations to have, though a good narrative would cover many of those. More interesting is to look at the change year over year and think about why the change. As always I wish the budget had a third column for 2016 Actual. Money often gets reallocated during the year, but I can’t tell if those changes are incorporated here (or if any was). I didn’t have the energy to try to figure out GAP (global alliance) profit or loss – maybe someone else will? Remember you can see the top lines and the departmental detail. Interested in Chapters or whatever, you can dig into those sub items to see where it goes.

If you’re going to run for the Board, or just want to hold the Board accountable, you need to read this document and think about it.