Dear Clubbies,
I hope the summer continues to go well wherever you are. As the
surf sport season starts to really ramp up I am looking forward to
getting out and watching our athletes of all ages get out on the
water (and sand) as we lead up to the Nationals in March.
A short meeting of the Board of Surf Life Saving New Zealand was
held via teleconference on the 22 January 2013.
Key points covered included:
- Sustainability - The Board remains very
focused on 'Future Proofing' the organisation. Heading into 2013,
financial sustainability remains the single biggest challenge for
SLSNZ - despite the actions already taken last year. The
disappointing fundraising outcomes at the end of last year and
signs that our grant applications will struggle over the coming six
months are keeping the pressure firmly on our finances, and with no
reserves to fall back on we cannot afford any slip-ups!
As a business we will need to very tightly manage our costs,
including staffing and cashflow over the remaining six months of
the current financial year and into 2013/14. We also need to put
more effort into revenue growth to offset the declines we are
seeing in the traditional fundraising and grant incomes. To that
end the Board has set up this month a Commercial Committee to
assist the Management Team to identify and convert new revenue
opportunities. Myself, Brent Warner and Nicky Duggan are on this
committee and we will involve others as we leave no stone unturned
in this area. The Northern Region Board has taken the same approach
and the Management Teams of SLSNZ and SLSNR recently met to ensure
we are maximising all the opportunities we have in front of us at
every level.
The Board is also thinking about how we operate in an environment
where most of our funding is only confirmed for a maximum of a year
at a time, and often only when that year has already started and
commitments made to employ staff and run programmes. This makes it
difficult to manage profitability as any funding reductions are
harder to deal with once programmes are underway. The increasing
difficulty of getting 'untagged' income and funding for overheads
is also adding to the pressure of the current model for most
not-for-profit organisations. While we continue to search for long
term sources of untagged income, in the interim while we rebuild
our reserves we need a way of operating that does not expose the
organisation to as much financial risk. The recent feedback from
Club Chairs on what is important for SLSNZ to deliver to its
stakeholders and our Board to Board discussions with Northern
Region are contributing to this thinking.
More discussions with clubs and members will need to occur on this
in the future.
- First six months results - The first six
months financial results were in line with the revised budget, with
income of $6.2 million, expenses of $4.3 million and a surplus of
$1.9 million. This surplus will largely disappear in January as
payments are made out to Regional Lifeguards from the income
received from Councils. As noted above it is the second half of the
financial year, and particularly the final quarter that creates the
cash flow problem as there is little income in the 'off season' but
the costs continue!
- Holiday period drownings - The holiday period
was noticeable this year for a lot of rescue activity and
comparatively few drownings. The official holiday period was
between 4pm on Christmas Eve and 6am on the 3rd January and in that
time only three people drowned (a diver, a rafter and one beach
drowning) compared to an average of ten over the last five years.
While this is a great result there have still been some tragic (and
very avoidable) beach drownings either side of this period. Had
people followed the simple safety rules they would still be alive -
and this highlights the importance of our role in education - as
even with all our rescue resources we can't be everywhere to get
people out of trouble in the short time that is available to make a
difference.
- New Years honours - The Board noted the
honours bestowed on members (Sir) Bob Harvey, Lisa Carrington and
Raymond Dever and congratulates them all for the well-deserved
recognition.
- High Performance Sport funding- The Board
noted that Management were in discussion with High Performance
Sport NZ (HPSNZ) around the recently announced funding cuts for our
national team athletes, and was pleased with the positive response
to the request to review the decisions.
- Swim and Survive Review - The next stage of
the water safety sectors 'Swim and Survive' Review is taking place
on 20 February, organised by Water Safety New Zealand. SLSNZ will
participate in that meeting which will continue to look at how the
sector is structured and where programmes such as the State Kiwi
Swim Safe programme will be run from, given that Swimming NZ has
been mandated to move away from this work in order to focus on high
performance.
- Club Health - SLSNZ President Neale Ames
attended the meeting and gave a brief summary of his summer 'road
trip' visiting clubs in the North Island. The Board is very
appreciative of the personal time, effort and cost that Neale is
putting into his role as President and the feedback that he is able
to provide via these club visits.
- National Club Chairs Workshop - Recently the
Board decided to hold a workshop in Wellington on Saturday 21
September for Club Chairs (or an alternative delegate) - in order
to have discussions on topics of national interest with every club
having the opportunity to participate and contribute. The focus
will be forward looking, and the actual topics for discussion will
be determined as part of the next round of club chairs meetings -
we want clubs to drive the agenda based on what are the critical
issues for the future of Surf Life Saving.
The plan is to start around 10-10.30am and go through until 3
-3.30pm. The workshop will be followed by the 2013 AGM and then in
the evening a dinner for the annual DHL 'In it for Life' Awards and
the BP Media Awards. Further details will follow but the chance is
there for clubs to book airfares now and get the best deals. I hope
all clubs take up this opportunity as there are very few chances
for us all to get together like this.
Next meeting:
Next meeting is scheduled on 22 January by teleconference.
Yours in surf
Michael Bassett-Foss
Chairman
Surf Life Saving New Zealand
