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Determine Financial Goals of the Region

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Regional Conferences are not required to make a profit, but are expected to cover expenses. Regional Conferences are intended to provide quality programs and information at an affordable cost. Budget conservatively, estimating expenses high and attendance low, while focusing on keeping the event affordable for members. As a general guideline, it is expected the registration fee be under $100 and the hotel accommodations be $80-100 or less.

Tips for budgeting:

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Identify Anticipated Expenses                        

Regional Conference Budget form

Regional Conference Budget SAMPLE FORM

       

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FIXED COSTS: Include expenses that do NOT change regardless of how many people attend. Categories include: Planning meetings (if necessary), Keynote speaker, Printing, Postage, Conference materials, Rentals, Supplies, Telephone/FAX, Complimentary registrations as outlined below.

VARIABLE COSTS: Include expenses that DO change according to the number of attendees. Most commonly, these are meals, name badges.  (While Bags or portfolios might fit under this category, unfortunately, these have to be ordered before it is known exactly how many people will attend, so a target number needs to be included in the budget and entered with the fixed costs.  The down side to this is that if 20 more people come than the estimated number of bags, this cost will increase and won't be entirely covered in the registration fee. - It is best to estimate a little high in this category to cover for this possibility.)

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Examine Conference History & Past Financial Reports

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Review how much was spent on certain categories, what the attendance was in different cities, how many hotel rooms were blocked and then actually used. Information is available from the Executive Office. Contact Diane Matteson at matteson@ksu.edu

General guidelines are:

• Never budget for more people than attended last year.
• Remember that prices and priorities change.
• Remember to calculate taxes and gratuities.
• Round expense estimates upward.
• Round income estimates downward.

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Rewarding Early Registrants

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It is very helpful to the planning committee to know several weeks ahead exactly how many people will come to the conference. Giving the “early ” fees to those who register at least 3-4 weeks before the conference encourages early registration. Generally, we try to keep the early registration fee the same date as the hotel cut off date (when the conference fee is no longer offered.    For every fee category, you can make an “early” fee and a “regular” fee. We try not to use the term “late fee” as it is negative and people get irritated. It is best to make them feel good that they took advantage of the offer of a reduced fee for getting their registration in early.

A $35 discount will be given for early registrants. This savings over the " regular fee" is usually an incentive to participants to get their registration materials turned in early. A $10 difference has little or no effect.

The official budget form will help you calculate the registration fees necessary to cover the costs of the conference. If those registration fees exceed $100, the budget should be examined to see if some expenses could be reduced.

Non-member fees are higher, as discounted registration fees are a membership benefit.   These higher fees also encourage the participants to join NACADA with their conference registration.

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Determine the Early Registration Member Fee

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The early registration fee is calculated using the projected budget. You may have to delete items from your budget if the calculated registration fees are too high. It is expected that conference fees not exceed $100 for NACADA members.

The “Early Registration Member Fee” fee for those who are already members of NACADA is calculated by:

( Fixed Costs per person) (+)PLUS (Meal and Materials cost per person)

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Determine Other Registration Fees

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After the Early Registration Member Fee is determined, the other fees will be determined according to the following guidelines:

1. The non-member early registration fee:  $55 higher than "Early Registration Member Fee" and includes comlimentary NACADA membership. 
2. Student and Retiree fee: This should be equal to the “Variable” per person costs plus $10, so they are paying for food and supplies and not a share of the Fixed costs.
3. Daily rates do not need to be published. In the rare instances that daily rates may be offered, the conference chair and the Executive Office Liaison will determine these fees and who will be allowed to receive this rate. Daily rates are not recommended because it encourages people to be less than fully engaged in the conference.  If the committee feels it is in the best interest of their region, a daily rate must be based on meal costs for that day plus the full share of the FIXED costs for the conference.  The total of the daily rates MUST exceed the regular fee charged for the whole conference.
4. The "regular" fees are calculated by adding $35 to each category. This amount of difference between early and regular fees is usually an incentive to participants to get their registration materials turned in early. A $10 difference has little or no effect.

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Complimentary Registrations

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The general NACADA guideline is that all participants pay a registration fee, including planning committee members. A complimentary registration fee is required for the National  Board Representative & the Executive Office Representative but travel and lodging will be paid by the Executive Office. The conference chair registration(s) can be built into the Regional Conference Budget, also.

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Donations/ Sponsorships

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Most of the time, conference costs should be covered by the registration fees, thus the people who benefit from the conference are the ones who pay the costs. However, the registration fee can be reduced if the budget is partially met by donations or sponsorships. It is very important that the parameters for donations be articulated in writing. Request support for specific activities or items as much as possible, rather than blanket donations. Donations cannot be returned even if the conference breaks even or better.

Ideas for resources are:

• Chamber of Commerce for giveaways including conference folders and door prizes.
• Copy companies for discounted rates or for conference folders that advertise their business.
• Convention and Visitors Bureau may sponsor refreshment break or a meeting of the program committee in their city.
• Sponsoring institution may donate the cost of general session speaker. You may open the general speaker session to those on the local campus who would not normally come to the entire conference in return for the institution’s help with payment for the speaker. Also, refer to the list under "Host Institutions" previously in this document.
• Door prizes are often donated by area businesses. 

Procedure for accepting donations: Added Dec. 17, 2004

NOTE:  If a business is donating articles instead of funds, you may use the acknowledgement letter and modify it to name the item and value to give to them.

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Sales Tax Exemption

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NACADA is classified by the IRS as a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Educational Organization. This means that we are exempt from paying INCOME tax. Because of this designation, we MAY also be exempt from paying SALES tax in SOME states. Since sales taxes are state and local taxes, our federal income tax exemption does not automatically exempt us from sales taxes. Each state and local government sets the rules governing their sales tax exemptions.

The criteria set by each state vary from automatic exemption to all 501(c)3 organizations, to only exemption for certain entities, like churches. Some states exempt many things, but not food and hotel rooms, which makes exemption less valuable to our conferences. 

The Executive Office will contact your state's Department of Revenue or Taxation or section that handles sales tax. . Contact the Executive Office to determine if your state will offer the exemption on sales tax. In most cases, you will need a certificate to give to each vendor for whom you would like to be exempt.  These will be supplied by the Executive Office at your request.

Our Federal Identification number (48-1114759) and we are a non-profit organization incorporated in Kansas.

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Final Budget Approvals

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The Board of Directors requires the Region Chair and the Executive Office to approve the final budgets. These budgets are due by June 30 of each year. Do not publish any registration rates before the budget is approved. Reminder: all budgets must be approved by the Executive office and should be approved at least by June 30 of the year before the conference. A notice will be sent to Regional Conference Chairs and Region Chairs.

 

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A Joint Effort

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The conference planning committee, in conjunction with the Region Chair and the Executive Office staff, must determine the budget for the conference. This budget is used to set the appropriate registration fees and serve as a guide for payments from the Regional Conference Account set up at the Executive Office. Payments cannot be made for items for a Regional Conference until the budgets have been approved by the Region Chair and the Executive Office.

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Payments of Invoices Before the Conference.

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The Executive Office will set up a Regional Conference account and will pay up-front costs associated with announcing the program before any money has come in for registrations. Invoices can be sent directly to the Executive Office or the Executive Office can call the vendor (at your direction) and provide a credit card number.

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Region Accounts

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Excess funds from a conference will be deposited into the Region Account at the Executive Office after the conference. The Region has the discretion to use these funds per the guidelines outlined in the Regional Account Expenditures.

Care must be taken not to include items in the region ccount that more appropriately belong in the Regional Conference budget. The Region Chair and the Regional Conference Chair must work closely with the Executive Office in designing the Regional Conference budget.

To be consistent with the guidelines used by Board of Directors members traveling to the annual national conference, the region budget should not include the Region Chair's travel expenses to the Regional Conference.

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Conference Reporting

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The following actions and reports must be made:

• Send the following on-site registration materials to the Executive Office within ONE WEEK of the conference:
  1. List of NO-SHOWS
  2. Checks, credit cards attached to appropriate registration forms indicating who the payments are for. If cash is taken, you may want to write a check for that amount but BE SURE TO attach a complete description of exactly what that check covers.
  3. Names /addresses /contact information of WALK-ON's (those who registered AT the conference.
  4. Credit Card authorization forms
• A printed program with NBCC sessions clearly marked must be sent to arrive at the Executive Office by May 1.    For Regional Conferences held in May, if you have these determined before May 1, send a list. If not, send it within one week of the conference. Thanks!
• The Executive Office will post the financial status of the Conference on the leadership page.
• Conference Chairs should assemble four sets of the following documents and forward one each to: The Executive Office, the Region Chair, the Division Representative and next year's Regional Conference Chair.
  • Printed program with NBCC sessions clearly marked & evaluations
  • A brief summary of the evaluations & recommendations given by steering committee
  • A link to the final financial report from the Executive Office.