Hi Everyone,
The December Board meeting was held via Conference call on
Sunday 14th December.
From a financial perspective the results for the five months to
30th November were a Net Operating Surplus of $2.2
million against a budget of $1.471 million, a positive difference
of $729,000. This is all due to timing differences and the
underlying result for the period remains at budgeted levels.
The Year-end Forecast for the 12 month Net Operating Surplus has
again come under pressure and has slipped back to $692,000, some
$51,000 less than the budget of $743,000 due a number of
factors. More work will be done over the coming weeks to see
what actions can be taken to regain this lost ground. See the
attached normal monthly report for details on the YTD results.
In terms of other outcomes from the meeting:
- The Board was delighted at the HPSNZ decision to grant $360,000
over two years towards the Black Fins campaign to defend their
world title at Rescue 2016 in the Netherlands. This is a
$30,000 increase on the campaign funding for Rescue 2014. Now
quite a bit of work has to go in to selecting the next set of Team
Management and Coaches and communicating with athletes as to the
plans and timings, along with finalising the campaign activities to
align to the budget.
- The timetable for the 2015 AGM was discussed and agreed.
As normal Clubs will be advised of this formally in May, but for
those planning ahead you can circle Saturday 19th
September in Wellington!
- There was considerable discussion on the agenda for the annual
Board Planning Workshop, taking place in Christchurch in
February. The topics will be wide ranging as we look ahead
for the next three years.
- As has been subsequently communicated, the Board endorsed the
recommendations of the Central and Southern Club Chairs Committees
to re-appoint Neale Ames and Murray Wilson respectively for a term
of two years as regional delegates on the National Honours and
Awards Committee effective from 1 January 2015. This
Committee does a lot of excellent work and the Board is very
appreciative of their efforts.
- There was a brief update on the outcomes of the Board
Sub-Committee meeting held a few days earlier looking at
re-establishing the SLSNZ Foundation. Good progress was made
in terms of ideas for getting clarity on the purpose and objectives
of the Foundation, along with clarity on the level of flexibility
required for donors. There is still more work required in the
coming months to continue the thinking and formalise the outcomes,
but this was a positive start.
- Positive progress was also noted with the Water Safety NZ
Sector Plan - with a successful first meeting of the Cross Sector
Reference Group in Auckland in early December. A more clear
timetable is now in place and the next workshop scheduled for
February to continue the work.
- Also discussed was the work done by the Board Sub-committee
looking at prioritising the outcomes of the Surf Sport Blue Sky
Review, in particular the 32 recommendations. This work has
largely been completed and there will be communications on this in
the coming month and ongoing monitoring of progress at the Board
level.
- The Board looked at the results of the recent survey of Clubs
reliance on Gaming Trust grants. Of the 74 clubs, 25 clubs
responded to the survey, with the following results:
o Is it easier or harder to get funding from gaming
trusts?
|
Easier
|
Same
|
Harder
|
|
3
|
6
|
16
|
|
12%
|
24%
|
64%
|
On balance most clubs are finding it harder to source gaming
funds.
o Did you receive more or less funding from gaming
trusts in the last year?
|
More
|
Same
|
Less
|
|
8
|
7
|
10
|
|
32%
|
28%
|
40%
|
This is quite mixed, with a relatively even balance of wins and
losses. Key factors are the relationship with the funders and
the profile of surf life saving in the area.
o How much funding does your club receive each year
from gaming trusts?
Club funding ranged from $14,500 to $140,000. The average
across the 25 clubs was $45,000. Very roughly this would
equate to around half of a typical clubs income of $100,000 and
would equate to $3.33 million if extrapolated across all 74
clubs.
Collectively this is quite a high level of exposure for the
movement - and one worthy of further discussion. It will be
worth having as an agenda item at the next round of Regional Club
Chairs Workshops.
- The Board again discussed the YTD Serious Injury Summary for
the 2014/15 Season - to date there have been three injuries to
members where a hospital visit was required and four others needing
a visit to the doctor. Of the combined seven injuries,
three involved IRB's and the other four were sport related.
While numbers are still very low to be identifying trends, it is
interesting that two of the sport incidents involved patients
recovering from previous head injuries so perhaps a warning not be
rushing back into intensive activity too soon.
So that's it from me - as a busy 2014 drew to a close!
My thanks to my fellow Board members, the staff of SLSNZ and
the wider membership for all their contributions over the last year
and best wishes for the next! As noted earlier, the next
Board meeting will be the annual planning workshop being held on
Saturday 21st February in Christchurch . So until
my next update……
Yours in surf,
Geoff Hamilton
Chairman
Surf Life Saving New Zealand
