arontius | Tuesday Musings. (Reply)

.....The check from the Kingdom Chronicler's Office for the portion of the legal settlement of the SCA is ready for a second signature and I'll have it into the mail this evening. Just because I'm paranoid I'm going to at least get delivery confirmation at the Post Office kiosk after the Social. I'll just be glad that the whole thing is coming to a conclusion. And it looks like everyone is maintaining an air of civility about the entire process. Which probably amazes me the most out of this whole affair. I was really anticipating flame wars and name calling all over the e-lists. But everyone buckled down and went to work. I wish we approached everything in this manner. The things we could accomplish would be wonderful.

.....I'm hoping and hoping that we as an organization have grown up a little from this experience and shaken off a little of our naiveté. The truly despicable things this person did in the East could really have happened anywhere. Vigilance and attention to detail are not always our strong points as a group, but we need to work on those skills. Amongst other things.

.....Enough said by me on that subject I guess.

.....That check hurt though. The accounts of The Crier are the lowest they've been in well over a decade. The 2010 figures used as a starting point were higher than the account levels are today. It's a good thing we're moving to an electronic format. I guess I will not have to worry so much about what to do with all the extra money as there is far less of it now.

.....Sir Rauokinn brought up a good point in her Live Journal, something we struggle with a lot even in our local branch of Dragon's Laire. An Tir is paying over $120,000.00 as their portion of the settlement while the West is paying around $36,000.00. Both of these figures represent 18% of the amount of the total funds held by the Kingdom in 2010 (including all the sub-branches). Good points were brought up. Is the West divesting itself of savings in order to make purchases (land, regalia, etc.)? Is it just more important to those of the West to purchase what they want and need up front rather than save for 'something better' or a 'rainy day'? Do they have their funds invested in ways that are outside the incorporation? I tended to doubt that one at first, until I started thinking about their Kingdom Land Fund (KHTI), which is an entity completely outside the SCA. Out of necessity and legality, funds cannot go back and forth between these two funds sources at all. But it makes a great and independent way to keep money secure.

.....That is merely speculations though. The West may just have a bigger vision in mind in the handling of their funds, or at least a much different perspective. It would be interesting to come together and discuss our different perspectives and trade ideas.

.....In Dragon's Laire we've always been careful to maintain a healthy balance just in case we have a disastrous June Faire one year. That way we'd have the funds available to support ourselves for at least a year to rebuild if possible. In theory the idea is good, but just how much do you keep in reserves. Enough to cover all the rentals and June Faire for a year? Enough for just June Faire? some have advocated that we keep little to no extra funding as we are a not-for-profit organization. I certainly don't agree with that radical of approach. But balancing out all the different viewpoints and desires of the Baronial Populace can be difficult at times, that's for sure. We could, if necessary, go without a meeting hall, rental fight practice site, and storage units. We've done that in the past, but having all this available has certainly made things much easier on us in many ways.

.....The next several months, at least through June Faire, are going to be interesting to watch from a financial standpoint. We really need June Faire to do extra well this year.

.....I need to keep an eye on the September Crown bills as well. If I can hold off on actually paying many of them until after June Faire, that would be good. I don't really want to have to knock on Kingdom's door and ask for funds up front. Just makes the record keeping more difficult.

.....Serjeantry this year could prove as interesting as last year. In 2011 the model was established. Now we have to go through the growing pains. There will be some changes still in the requirements as we find things that do not work well and things that could work better. We've discovered something already this year we want to incorporate for next year. Last year and this year we announced a time and location of when we would accept Letters of Intent for Serjeantry. We solicited for questions. But we did not, at least this year, actively canvas the Populace to see who was going to submit a Letter. The requirements for the Serjeantry are lengthy, and complex in parts. We need to ensure that the potential candidates understand exactly what they are submitting a Letter to do. I would hate for someone to become excited and passionate about becoming a member of the Serjeantry only to find out that it held obligations that they could not in good conscious accomplish.

.....I think what we might start doing next year is establishing a date, prior to Candlemas, where each potential candidate must meet with us by in order to talk about what they want to do and what they understand of the Serjeantry Program. That way maybe we can head off at least some concerns before they become concerns. Then, if the candidate still truly wants to take part, they can go ahead and submit their Letters. I have often thought that the 'out' was the fact that no oaths are given with the Letters of Intent. But really, a Letter is a commitment and pretty close to an Oath in reality. So we may have to noodle on that concept some more.

.....Something that has become 'tradition' for TBT and myself is a letter to the Baronial e-list after major events and happenings that involve members of the Populace. We think that recognition of the good things people do as part of the SCA is one of our primary missions as Baron and Baroness. The giving of awards is one of the great ways of recognizing these people. But you can't give awards to everyone at an event, they become meaningless quickly. People seem to like their names mentioned though, specifically connected to the things they do at any given event or happening. The letters we've been doing seem to be well received. But they keep getting longer and longer. It might be a good thing that Master Ralg has set a size limit to the Baronial e-list. I'm constantly running against that bulkhead these days. :-)

.....I'm just hoping that there aren't just as many people sighing whenever they see my name flash across the e-list on the computer screen. 'Oh, no, here comes another long snoozer of a post.' At what point does 'recognition fatigue' start setting into the people reading the list? I might start posting short posts on the e-list that direct people to longer ones on the Baronial web-site. I wonder if I can get Aelianora's buy-in on that as the Baronial Web-Minister? Hmmm, might be the way to go. I'll have to solicit some input on that one.

.....Time to update the e-list anyway with items I missed from the original Candlemas post. I seem to be rambling anyway, and it is almost time to go to the Tuesday Social.

.....Aaron / Arontius.