<html>
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
  </head>
  <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
        My previously dismissive comments notwithstanding, it seems
    reasonable to defer membership income to the proper year.  This also
    complies with standard accounting practices (not to mention all the
    other accounting standards we should attending to).<br>
        This puts the income in the right year but we also have a
    marketing problem with our memberships.  We sell memberships
    throughout the year but for the calendar year, i.e we sell
    memberships "for the remainder of the year".  This gets awkward
    towards the end of the year.  So at some point, or for certain
    events, we want to say the membership is for the next year.  This is
    a marketing decision best left to the Membership Committee from time
    to time. <br>
        To comply with the accounting requirement we need only say:<br>
    <blockquote>Membership fees, whenever paid, for a particular
      membership year shall be deemed income for the membership year.<br>
    </blockquote>
    This is how I have handled recent membership payments.  The website
    and the concert tickets advertise 2018 memberships.  Several other
    recent memberships are obvious renewals (2nd payment this year) and
    have also been deferred.  As of Nov 30 our Deferred Income account
    has a balance of $340.  This amount will be transferred to the
    Membership Income account in January.  (Or if I get cash payments I
    may stick them in a cookie jar and deposit them in January, it's all
    the same :-)<br>
        --Bill<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2017-11-07 03:34, Bill Newman wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
      cite="mid:c655896f-8bd2-1ed3-2081-a5a8126c1026@plumdee.ca">
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
          Of course we can't sell memberships in November that expire
      six weeks later.  That goes without saying.  It would be
      reasonable to have memberships expire 12 months after they're
      paid.  That way we could solicit memberships all year long without
      having "half-year" memberships or make people wait till January
      for their benefits.  But our membership record keeping doesn't
      lend itself to such nuances, although we are working on it (there
      are a couple of possibilities).  So we have a Dec 31 expiry for
      all memberships. <br>
           You say "recently" Liz.  I assume you are referring to the
      Nov. 1 in the subject.  And I assume that refers to what we expect
      to receive at the concert in November.  But for the last two years
      the concert was in October and the year before that it was in
      September.  Those are probably better cut-off months for issuing
      next-year memberships.<br>
          When issuing a next-year membership it would seem unnecessary
      make people wait for Jan for it to be effective.  Why not make it
      an active membership with an expiry date of next Dec 31?  Yeah, a
      14-15 month membership, why not?  If it's a renewal then they
      already have a membership and it's all the same.  If not then they
      could use it for Christmas presents or whatever--just seems silly
      to sell them something they can't use right away.  Next
      year?,...well it will be a renewal and they'll only get another 12
      months.<br>
          <br>
      As for the deferred income idea; yes, that's an accounting
      maneuver we know how to do but I don't think we need to.  For
      years now we have posted membership income on the date it was
      received.  I can't see why in November of 2017 that should be
      changed.<br>
          Over time membership fees come in at the rate of $20/yr and at
      various times during the year (see attached graph).  I don't see
      how we can lock them each into an exact calendar year or which
      year it should be.  As/if we move people to individual anniversary
      dates the idea of splitting the income across two fiscal years
      makes no sense.  What we expect is $20/yr each and every
      year--when the dollars hit the bank account call it income and
      we're done.<br>
          The actual reason for deferring income would be to put it into
      the same year in which expenses are incurred in support of that
      membership.  But, whoops, we don't have any such expenses.  (The
      perquisites are provided by outside companies and are on their
      books.  We aren't even advised.)<br>
          If we defer income then the last few months of the year will
      show zero membership income.  We're currently in a promotional
      campaign, with prizes, to promote membership.  It would be a
      little tricky to get the data to show how that is working.<br>
      <br>
          What to do?  Nothing too complicated really.<br>
      <ul>
        <li>Change the website Paypal buttons to say 2018.  (The two
          buttons currently share the same codes.  I'd like to change
          that so I know which button they pressed. No big deal.)  And
          why do we have two buttons????</li>
        <li>Produce new membership cards that expire 2018-12-31. 
          Hopefully make them usable for Christmas.</li>
        <li>Think about the (very few) people who renewed in Sept and
          Oct and maybe extend them into next year too.<br>
        </li>
        <li>Carry on raking in the cash.</li>
      </ul>
      Seems like a lot of explanation for carrying on pretty much as
      usual, but that's how I see it.<br>
          --Bill<br>
      <br>
      On 2017-11-04 16:18, Kaye Grant wrote:<br>
      <blockquote type="cite"
        cite="mid:F1A4BE36-37ED-4018-AADF-EA7395FCC1EE@shaw.ca">
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
          charset=utf-8">
        I agree with doing this but I think this decision might need a
        motion- 
        <div class=""><br class="">
        </div>
        <div class="">K<br class="">
          <div>
            <div class="">On Nov 4, 2017, at 5:17 PM, Denis <<a
                href="mailto:dadepape@mymts.net" class=""
                moz-do-not-send="true">dadepape@mymts.net</a>> wrote:</div>
            <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
            <div class="">
              <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
                charset=utf-8" class="">
              <div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
                space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">I
                like Liz’s suggestions.
                <div class=""><br class="">
                </div>
                <div class="">Denis <br class="">
                  <div class="">
                    <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                      <div class="">On 4 Nov 2017, at 14:41, Liz Shearer
                        <<a href="mailto:elizabethshearer@gmail.com"
                          class="" moz-do-not-send="true">elizabethshearer@gmail.com</a>>
                        wrote:</div>
                      <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
                      <div class="">
                        <div dir="auto" class="">
                          <div class="">I support moving the recent
                            purchased memberships to deferred income and
                            updating the website accordingly. We could
                            add a message that they are purchasing a
                            2018 membership and will receive a "card" in
                            their email to make use of the perks jan-dec
                            2018. 
                            <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                            </div>
                            <div dir="auto" class="">That way we also
                              give ourselves some time to
                              reformat/update the cards on mailchimp to
                              reflect new 2018 memberships. These could
                              be sent out early January and then ongoing
                              as we sell new memberships? Charles
                              manages this process.
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                            </div>
                            <br class="">
                            <div class="gmail_extra"><br class="">
                              <div class="gmail_quote">On Nov 4, 2017
                                11:57 AM, "Mark Cohoe" <<a
                                  href="mailto:mark.e.cohoe@gmail.com"
                                  class="" moz-do-not-send="true">mark.e.cohoe@gmail.com</a>>
                                wrote:<br type="attribution" class="">
                                <blockquote class="quote"
                                  style="margin:0 0 0
                                  .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc
                                  solid;padding-left:1ex">
                                  <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                    <div class="">
                                      <div class="">
                                        <div class="">Hi,<br class="">
                                          <br class="">
                                        </div>
                                        We've actually had a couple of
                                        people purchase memberships
                                        online over the last couple of
                                        days., and I wanted to check
                                        back to see if we are agreed to
                                        just count these as 2018
                                        memberships (and accounted for
                                        as deferred income). We're
                                        offering 2018 memberships as an
                                        add-on for the fall fundraising
                                        concert, so a policy like this
                                        makes a fair bit of sense to me.<br
                                          class="">
                                        <br class="">
                                      </div>
                                      If agreed, I'll also change the
                                      join now links so that we are not
                                      offering the 2017 memberships.<font
                                        class="" color="#888888"><br
                                          class="">
                                        <br class="">
                                      </font></div>
                                    <font class="" color="#888888">Mark<br
                                        class="">
                                    </font></div>
                                  <br class="">
                                  ______________________________<wbr
                                    class="">_________________<br
                                    class="">
                                  Fundraising mailing list<br class="">
                                  <a
                                    href="mailto:Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca"
                                    class="" moz-do-not-send="true">Fundraising@lists.<wbr
                                      class="">bikewinnipeg.ca</a><br
                                    class="">
                                  <a
href="http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca"
                                    rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"
                                    class="" moz-do-not-send="true">http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/<wbr
                                      class="">listinfo.cgi/fundraising-<wbr
                                      class="">bikewinnipeg.ca</a><br
                                    class="">
                                  <br class="">
                                </blockquote>
                              </div>
                              <br class="">
                            </div>
                          </div>
                        </div>
                        _______________________________________________<br
                          class="">
                        Fundraising mailing list<br class="">
                        <a
                          href="mailto:Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca"
                          class="" moz-do-not-send="true">Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca</a><br
                          class="">
                        <a
href="http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca"
                          class="" moz-do-not-send="true">http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca</a><br
                          class="">
                      </div>
                    </blockquote>
                  </div>
                  <br class="">
                </div>
              </div>
              _______________________________________________<br
                class="">
              Fundraising mailing list<br class="">
              <a href="mailto:Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca"
                class="" moz-do-not-send="true">Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca</a><br
                class="">
              <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca"
                moz-do-not-send="true">http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca</a><br
                class="">
            </div>
          </div>
          <br class="">
        </div>
        <br>
        <fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
        <br>
        <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Fundraising mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca" moz-do-not-send="true">Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca" moz-do-not-send="true">http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca</a>
</pre>
      </blockquote>
      <br>
      <br>
      <fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
      <br>
      <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Fundraising mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca">Fundraising@lists.bikewinnipeg.ca</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca">http://lists.bikewinnipeg.ca/listinfo.cgi/fundraising-bikewinnipeg.ca</a></pre>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
  </body>
</html>