Hi Everyone,
Rather than hold a normal Board meeting, in February the Board
held a planning workshop in the SLSNZ office at Mount Maunganui,
primarily to discuss the 2014/15 Strategic Plan and budget
developed by the Management team. This was a very useful
session which issummarised below. It also allowed Board
members to attend the Oceans 2014 event and see our younger
athletes in action.
While not covered at the meeting, the financial results for the
7 months to 31 January were circulated to the Board - a copy of the
summary reports will be made available as usual to clubs
(attached). The YTD results remain healthy with a $1.8m Operating
Surplus, which after taking account of timing variances is still on
track for a budgeted full year Operating Surplus of $1.04m before
Capex and Revaluations. Out of this surplus we have to fund
$565,000 of capital expenditure for which grant income has been
received, so the amount we get to keep in the bank at the end of
the year is aiming to be around $500,000.
The next few months will see heavy expenditure as we pay out for
Club Grants, sports events and finish off the Beach Ed and Regional
Lifeguard programmes. While the current surplus was always
budgeted to drop off quickly, we will need to manage everything
tightly as we head to the end of the financial year.
Also in terms of YTD progress, Management presented the
'Balanced Scorecard' which summarises a variety of Key Performance
Indicators the Board is using to assess the performance of the
SLSNZ entity and the health of the 'movement'. For your
information I have included this as well.
In terms of other planning workshop, the following were the main
topics:
- The Board spent quite a lot of time getting clarity on the
Vision, Purpose and Values of the organisation. A separate
Vision statement was re-introduced and the Purpose made explicit to
fit the role of SLSNZ. Values too were re-drafted to reflect
that role. These have now been incorporated into the version
of the Strategic Plan which I have attached to this communication
for clubs information.
- The three Strategic Priorities of' Healthy Clubs', 'Right
People, Right Places, Right Resources' and 'Sustainability' were
re-affirmed as were the outcomes being expected.
- The high level actions and activities for the 2014/15 year were
also endorsed for Management to get on with. Specific topics
discussed in some depth were the work needed to re-establish a
SLSNZ Foundation, our contribution to the new Water Safety NZ
organisation and how that will assist us in looking at a different
Government funding model, the 'Blue Sky' sports review and Risk
Management.
- The Board also spent time looking at its own operation -
finalising a Board Charter document and re-assessing what level of
detail it needed see information coming through from Management -
both in written reports and via sub-committee meetings.
- The 2014/15 Budget was also endorsed. Which will see
effectively the same level of 'free cash' generated as expected for
2013/14 - a figure of around $500,000 from Net Operating Surplus
less CAPEX spend.
|
Item
|
2013/14 Forecast
|
2014/15 Budget
|
|
Net Operating Surplus
|
$1.07m
|
$0.74m
|
|
Less CAPEX
|
$0.57m
|
$0.24m
|
|
=Free Cash
|
$0.50m
|
$0.50m
|
2013/14 is a 'catchup' year
for CAPEX spend, which is expected to drop back considerably in
2014/15.
The focus remains on steadily getting money back in the bank to
rebuild the working capital/ cash reserves that were exhausted in
2010/11.
Overall, this was a very useful meeting and any feedback from
clubs is welcome on any of the matters above and the Strategic Plan
itself.
The Board will next meet on Sunday 23 March in Whangamata,
which coincides with the IRB National Championships.
So until my next update…
Documents attached to this update are:
Yours in surf,
Geoff Hamilton
Chairman
Surf Life Saving New
Zealand
